The Veldmans: It's been awhile

Every night I think to myself, I'm going to update the blog tonight. And every night I go to bed thinking, Darn I didn't update the blog tonight. So, today is the day. Here is a little update as to what we have been up to. There are few pictures, as I was away for a few days 2 weeks ago.

Two weeks ago Thursday I boarded a plane and headed south to Kansas City to visit my friend Lisa, her husband Craig, and their new little guy Nick. Nick was born in February and I've been dying to meet him. I wondered how I would do with being away from Ava for four days, as I had never been away from her for that long. Knowing that she was hanging out with Daddy and having a great time with Mema made it very easy for me. I thoroughly enjoyed my time there and it was good for me to get away for a short while. It was relaxing and SO nice to get to catch up and spend time with Lisa, Craig, and Nick. Nick is such a cute little peanut. I can't wait for Ava to meet him. She is always asking to see pictures of "Baby Nick". I know that she will love him up! It was hard to say good-bye when Sunday came, but I'll look forward to seeing them again this summer. Thank you guys for a fabulous few days. I love that little guy of yours and can't wait to see you all again! Ava and Daddy met me at the airport. Ava was so exhausted from all the fun that she had with Daddy & Mema that she was asleep when they picked me up.

To be honest with you, I can't even remember what happened last week. I guess that it wasn't really that exciting. Friday afternoon we did have an appointment with a pediatric surgeon to take a look at Ava's umbilical hernia. He said that the hernia is not super big, but that it is off to the side and with his experience those do not close on their own. Since there has been no change in the hernia since she was born, he recommended that we get it fixed. So, Ava will be heading to surgery on Monday April 2nd. Yes, that's soon! Her surgery is scheduled for 11:30 AM. I'm hoping that the hardest part is not being able to give her any solid foods all morning. She can have liquids up until 8:00, but then nothing. Sadly enough, the first thing she says when she wakes up is "let's have breakfast". I did buy her some apple juice to have for breakfast on Monday, so she'll think that's a treat. Yes, I'm the mean mom who doesn't let her kid have juice. I did buy the juice for tots that's already diluted so she won't be super high on sugar. The surgery is at Children's Hospital in St. Paul. It's an outpatient procedure that takes about 30 minutes usually. He said we should only be at the hospital for about 3 hours. He'll send us home with some liquid oxycodone for pain. We're hoping that she'll be up and running by the next day. I feel really good about the surgeon. If you ask Ava what Dr. Steve is going to do she'll tell you, "fix my belly button" as she lifts her shirt to show you.

Saturday was my birthday. I actually picked up a day shift at the hospital since I get paid extra for working my birthday. I worked in the ER and actually had a pretty good day. Nate and Ava surprised me with treats and a Dora balloon. I was feeling a little under the weather that evening so we stayed in and did dinner at home.

I had the last couple of days off so Ava and I have been hanging out. Unfortunately the weather has not been real nice so we've been stuck inside. We did story time at the library on Monday, and yesterday we had her pre-op physical at her primary doctor's office. I'm back to working evenings tonight and tomorrow, and then I work all weekend.

I hope that you have all been doing well, and thank you for checking in on us. I'll keep you posted on how the surgery goes Monday. Please say a little prayer for our peanut that all goes well!