The Royal Ascot

While the Pink One and I were heading to the hospital for her operation, this is what we saw at the London Waterloo East station.

Pretty fancy eh? The station was filled with people looking as posh as they possibly could. I couldn't let this go, I HAD to know what all of the hoopla was about. I asked the couple posed with the Pink One what on earth was going on? "Why it is the Royal Ascot!" said while looking down ones nose at me. The what? Never heard of it. But, the Queen was going to be there, so it must have been important. The Royal Ascot is a 300 year old super fancy and very posh horse race, the who's who of England can be spotted at this race. If you would like to read more about the Royal Ascot, or simply just admire the pictures click HERE.

I love that the Pink One wasn't afraid to go stand with random posh strangers and have her picture taken *snicker* Don't worry, the couple was thrilled to have the attention and weren't bothered at all to be photographed. In fact, they were so pleased with themselves that they hardly noticed anyone else in the station :) I do love that here in the UK they actually have top hats and fascinators on hand in their closets. I have always loved formal events and must say that I love that they still celebrate certain things here looking like Mr. Darcy ;) Maybe next year you will see me in my fascinator at the train station looking down my nose at the passers by.......just maybe.

What Have I Done....

but more importantly, why did I do it? I am a goal oriented person; something that became instilled in me when I was in Young Women's. I love setting goals, plotting out my plan of action, and then ticking off the box when completed. There is so much satisfaction when you see that you have accomplished something that you have worked so hard to achieve. I ran my first marathon in 2008 in honour of my Pink One and her ability to hang in there and endure the difficulties she faced from her premature birth, I ran my second marathon in 2010 in honour of my Blue One and his fighting desire to be healthy and strong after his premature birth, and I am going to run the Brighton marathon in 2012 to help me remember that we can achieve difficult things when we are determined to make them work :) 

I have a long way to go and a lot of work if I want to beat my last marathon time, which is always my goal. I originally wanted to run the London Marathon, but apparently it is one of the biggest Marathons in the world and virtually impossible to get into. Rather than accepting defeat when I learned of this, I jumped online and found a list of all marathons in the UK. Brighton is a magnificent coast town, so naturally it appealed to me as a marathon option. I found out that running marathons in the UK is really difficult to do. Most people who run try to guarantee a spot by racing for a charity, the rest of us schmucks have to apply for the lottery and hope to get picked. I applied thinking that there would be no way I would get selected. Oops! I was wrong. I received an email after the lottery had closed informing me that my ballot had been selected. This year they have accepted 18,000 applicants into the Brighton Marathon where as the Salt Lake Marathon (which I have run in the past) had only 1,200 finishers last year. This will be a huge change for me.

I am a little overwhelmed, but really excited. I desperately wanted to run a marathon while I was living in the UK and as it turns out, April will be the perfect time for it. It looks like it is time to jump onto my favourite training website www.halhigdon.com and get my novice I, 18 week marathon training guide printed. I am hoping that my knee's and hips will hold out on me in my ripening age. I may have to do more cross training than usual to get my body in the right kind of shape for this marathon, but I am excited to tick off that little box when it is all over with.

This is what I will be doing after I have finished running the race. Only I will probably be floating in the water like a bloated beached whale instead of walking joyously. Doesn't that look nice though? Especially with your shoes off and toes in that cold water. Mmm.

Hair Drama or is it Trauma?

The past few times I have had my hair done I have felt super disappointed. Living in London is expensive, and getting your hair done is no exception. There is nothing worse than forking out a small fortune of money to get a crappy hair job. Being a bit fearful of confrontation I have left the stylists chair with speckled hair and silent lips. Rather than making a fuss I have worn my trusty turquoise hat as my roots begin to grow out. The hat can only be worn for so long and your roots can only grow so much before a permanent solution becomes necessary. For ages Hubby has been trying to convince me to become a foxy brunette and abandon my blondeness. Easier said than done. 

Yesterday I was sick to death of looking at my ugly roots and speckled hair, so I decided to take matters in my own hands. I am sure that by this point in time you are thinking "Oh, no!" and can probably see what is coming. Rather than costing my husband a small fortune and worrying about arranging a babysitter for heaven knows how long while I get my hair done, I decided that it was time to become completely self sufficient. Since I have had such recent success with my You Tube sewing lessons, I decided to turn to You Tube for lessons on how to colour hair. I watched a great review on a hair product sold at my local store, watched how to apply it, and was off.

I came home totally stoked to touch up my roots to match the rest of my hair. I applied the product, waited the 10 minutes, and then rinsed my hair. At last I was going to get a good hair colouring devoid of speckles and oddly high-lited bits. I rinsed, conditioned, and screamed. I am sure that when I say that my roots were copper you will think that I am exaggerating, but I am not, and my roots were copper coloured. CRAP! what do I do, what do I do, panic! panic! panic! So I dried the hair and put on the turquoise hat :) Horrible lying You Tube video! I didn't have beautiful blond roots, but penny coloured roots. I tried a toner to calm done the copper, didn't work, and then started to worry that I would burn my hair and have it all fall out. I went to bed with a lovely new technicolor nightmare hair do. 

Copper roots. The picture doesn't do the roots justice.

First thing this morning I woke up, threw the piggies in the car, and went to Sally Beauty. I chatted with the lady about what I should do with the copper roots and white ends. If I were to apply an ashy colour then the copper would be toned down, but the white ends would become a grayish colour. What have I done! She felt that the best thing would be to go darker, which I have done before, so I took her advice. I bought a couple of colours, mixed them, and painted my copper/white hair with a couple of darker browns. She told me to apply the roots last so that they wouldn't dye darker than the rest of the hair, which oddly enough, the roots stayed the lightest part. 

My new darker do.

I feel a lot better about paying £15.00 every month or two to do my hair than £60.00. The more money I am able to save, the more places I can go and visit. The more self sufficient I can become, the fewer people I have to impose on. I am sure that I will yo yo around colours and probably be purple before the years end, but at least it will be an inexpensive purple rather than an expensive one. When I get back to the states I will start having my hair done, but until then, Sally's.....here I come!

Choices

Yesterday was Father's Day and as I sat at the hospital with the Pink One I thought a lot about choices. When I was turning 17 my parents moved our family from West Valley City where I had spent all my childhood and teen years growing up with awesome friends, to North Salt Lake. You would have thought that I had moved to a different planet :) Geography can so much alter the activities and interests of people, and now that I was living close to the foothills and canyons I found the hobby's and interests at my new school to be different than where I came from. Geography wasn't the only difference, I went from a HUGE 5A school on a block schedule to a small 4A school that still had a 7 period day schedule,  my new school was less diverse than the one I left, and oddly enough the school activities, hangout's, and dances were all different. I was on the drill team at my old school, but was never really passionate about drill. However, my parents strongly encouraged me to audition for both Drill and Dance Company at the new school even though I didn't want to. Oddly enough, I made both teams. 

I left all of my friends behind and started from scratch as a Junior at a new High School. I can't even begin to express how difficult it was to make that adjustment. By your Junior year people are pretty much comfortable with the friends they have and most of the boys  already have a girl they fancy:) Then there was me.... awkward, alone, and from a different part of town. I spent most of my days driving home for lunch in tears, but trying to be brave and accept my new living conditions. I struggled through that entire Junior year with a couple of new friends, but mostly feeling alone and wanting to go back to the friends and school that I loved. 

I tried to balance my Junior year activities of Drill Team, Dance Company, AP classes, Laurel President, teaching at my mom's dance studio, and trying to deal with my feelings of loneliness and inferiority. I remember so many times I wished that it was all a dream and I would wake up to my normal happy life. By the end of my Junior year in High School my parents decided to give me the choice of returning to the school I had left or staying at the new school for my senior year. Ha! That was a no brainer, I was heading back to the west side. After giving me the choice my parents had 1 request of me, and that was to make my decision a matter of prayer. Simple, I could let the Lord confirm just how I felt. I prayed for guidance and direction and for the Lord to place me where I was supposed to be. Strangely enough, I stood up and knew that I needed to stay at the school without the friends.....where I felt awkward.....and was basically alone. At that moment in my life I didn't know why I was supposed to stay, not a clue. 

As my senior year of High School started to unfold I had a lot of awesome opportunities that I would have never had at my old High School. This year I didn't do drill, but was voted Dance Company President, I performed in the musical "Once Upon a Mattress," danced in "Joseph" at Kingsbury Hall, continued to teach at my mom's studio, and enjoyed my YW's duties. Had I decided to stay at my old High School I would have done Drill Team because that was what my friends did, even though I hated drill and I would have missed out on my passion for modern dance and the fun of participating in a musical. All of these things were great reasons to stay at the new school, but the best reason was yet to come. Had I never moved, and had I never stayed, I would have never met Hubby. 

I met Hubby going into my senior year and his friendship and support is what helped to make my life awesome. Without Hubby, my senior year would have been friendless, dateless, and prom-less, which are all important things for a girl of 17 to have :) That 1 choice changed the course of my life. I met Hubby and am now married to one of the most amazing men in the world. Hubby has always supported me and helped me to be able to find the strength within myself to endure the difficult. If I were to have married a man who put me last and made me feel unattractive and worthless, I have no idea what I would be able to achieve? However, I don't have to worry about that because I didn't marry a troll, I married my best friend. I am really grateful for great parents who gave me wise counsel, I am grateful that I listened to the answer despite my own wants, and that I mustered the courage to trust in the Lord.

I know that this difficult experience in my younger life has given me the strength to endure other difficulties and adventures in my more mature years ;) I am always grateful for Hubby and for the honest, hardworking, kind, intelligent, and patient man he is. He has been my strength for 15 years and I am so lucky to be spending the most amazing adventure of raising kids with him. Love you babe, thanks for giving me 2 little darlings that look like you........ and Happy Father's Day.

*smooches*

The Kidney Stone Saga

About 7 months ago the Pink One started complaining about a pain in her side and began having night time pee accidents. Simultaneously, we had sold our house and were preparing to move to London and so we wrote it off as "emotional trauma." About 4 weeks later we found ourselves at our paediatricians testing positive for a UTI and being put on antibiotics. She seemed to feel better while we made the move to London, but shortly after the pain and pee accidents hastily returned. 

To qualify for NHS in the UK you have to have certain papers and meet specific requirements, which at this time, we did not have. Time was dragging and the pain and accidents were becoming more frequent and my frustration to get the proper paper work to qualify for NHS had surmounted to the level of desperation. Finally I took her in and found out that despite the fact that they don't have an agreement with the US, they would treat her because she was a child and was in pain. Thank you NHS. This led to another positive test for a UTI, a round of antibiotics, and a relieved mom. This lasted for only a couple weeks and then the same symptoms quickly returned with a vengeance. 

At last we met the requirements for NHS and were able to further investigate into the problem that seemed to be recurring. Because of the number of UTI's she had experienced in a short time they decided to do an ultra sound test on her kidneys. The test was amazing. In the ultra sound we were able to see that her left kidney had become enlarged, urine was pooling in the kidney causing it to stretch, and that this pooling/stretching was creating a great deal of pain. Four weeks later I received a letter to go in to see the Urologist at the Children's Hospital in London. We headed up for ultra-sound number 2 where a very large and obvious kidney stone was present. Kidney stone? Kids don't get kidney stones! We were also able to see that the kidney was still enlarged and that the bladder was now unable to fully empty. This led to a series of blood tests, scans, and meetings with the Urologist at Evalina's. Because kidney stones are so rare in children the paediatric urologist had to work with the stone expert at the adult hospital (Guy's) to decide what the best course of action would be for our little piggy.

Dr. Taghazadi contacted me and informed me that he had collaborated with Dr. Glass and decided to do the more invasive of the two procedures to remove the stone. Our operation date was set and we were anxious for the Pink One to be able to get healthy, as her pain was starting to affect her simply daily activities. The day before the operation the Pink One and I took the train in to Waterloo East, walked to the hospital, and had her pre-operation assessment and admission to the hospital. The Pink One was put on 24 hour antibiotic and IV fluids prior to her procedure. 

The Pink One loved that her IV bandage looked like a cast. All present were privileged enough to get to sign her "cast."

After getting on her fluids and antibiotics we went to the Radio Lollipop activities that Evalina's puts on for the patients. Today's activity was decorating Father's Day cards for dad. The Pink One had a blast with the glitter and may have even gotten a bit carried away wielding her glitter glue pen (ie a very sparkly "cast").

Tilly was the Pink One's helper, who she LOVED, and was even able to sign the "cast." The 3rd floor where we were staying was beautiful, light, and fun. They even have a school here for children who have to stay for longer periods of time. The Pink One attended school the morning of her operation before she went into "Theatre" (which is what they call surgery).

After a rough night's sleep with a corridor filled with crying little ones, we woke up and prepared for her operation. The Pink One wasn't able to eat after 2:00 a.m. or drink water after 6:00 a.m. Around 11:00 a.m. and number 2 on the list, she headed down to theatre. I went along to hold her hand as they injected her with "magic milk" aka the drug that they inject into your cannula and knock you out cold.

The Pink One with her nurse and our buff bed transport helper.

The operation was about an hour and a half to two hours long. I went and got some lunch while they operated and then headed back to our bed to wait for news that she was in recovery. When they sent me down with the nurse to retrieve her she was still very sleepy, and continued to sleep for about another hour. The operation went well and they were able to successfully remove the stone.

The stone was 33mm which is 1.2 inches in size, which is pretty big for a 5 year old size kidney. The operation that they performed involved them going through her back into the kidney with a tube, grinding up the stone, and then suctioning all of the stone, granules, and stone dust out of the kidney. The Dr. saved 2 larger bits of the stone for us, and took a 3rd piece of the stone which was about the same size as the 2 to send off to the lab for analysis. We will get the results in a while as to what kind of a stone it is and quite possibly why she would have formed it.

Day 2 of recovery and day 3 in the hospital were the worst, and by this point in time she was very uncomfortable. Fortunately, she was able to get the catheter out today and put her panties back on (which bothered her to not be wearing for some reason).

When they attach the tube that is going from the kidney out the back to the drainage bag there is an inconsistency in tube size. This inconsistency causes a lot of drainage out of the body. The poor thing was tired of being soaked by the urine and blood draining from the kidney and leaking out of the sack. We probably changed her gown and panties 6-7 times.

The two souvenir stones were the size of a child's molar tooth. The stone was originally in one piece, but was too big to be removed in one piece, so they grind it up and suction it out through a tube. When we saw the stone bits we were shocked and horrified.

This is the tube that is going into her kidney through her back to drain all of the excess fluid and blood from the kidney.

We were able to bring her home today on Father's Day, the greatest gift we could give to her daddy. We still don't know how or why she formed the stone, they really are rare in children and most children form them because of another health issue that they are struggling with. After she heals up we will have another series of scans to be sure that she hasn't started forming any more stones. Truthfully, I am not sure that we could handle another operation like this anytime soon. It was very physically and emotionally taxing, especially without family and the close convenience of friends around. We have lovely friends here, but we are so spread out that it becomes complicated having to drive so far to have someone watch your kid and then pick them back up again after a long and taxing day. We are super proud of our pink piggy and hope and pray that we don't have anymore stones in the near future. If you are interested in reading more about stones in kids click HERE and HERE. Now, we are all going to rest well tonight in our own beds..... together..... as a family :)

The Wedding

Part of the curriculum for Reception at The Highway School is learning about weddings. The students learn about different places where people get married. When asked where people get married the Pink One told her teacher "in Temples" the teacher said "yes that is true," I was shocked.....and proud. Each year the students go to "Christ's Church" and participate in a mock Church of England wedding. The Pink One's teacher put all of the kids names in a hat and pulled out which character they were going to play at the wedding. The Pink One was selected to be Mother of the Bride, which made me a grandmother before I was ready :) 

The Pink One's friend Alex was the Father of the Bride. Aren't they a lovely pair?

I love Alex's mom Maria. Maria is from Spain and her husband Takeshi is from Japan. Spain + Japan = beautiful children. Maria had me to her house for a tea a while back and was so warm and easy to chat with. Now she and I are related.

The Vicar

Sporting the pillowcase dress I made for her. I have been taking sewing lessons on You Tube. You would be surprised at how well you can learn to sew from You Tube. I may no longer be a novice ;)

Isn't the Pink One's teacher lovely in her periwinkle ruffled dress and awesome heels? 

The entrance

Father of the Bride escorting the Bride down the isle.

The Vicar was enthusiastically explaining the importance of marriage. A lot of people here don't marry, but choose a partner and have a couple of kids with them. It was obvious that he was emphasising the commitment that is made between 2 people when you marry and make promises to each other in the sight of God.

Reading vows

Showing the ring.

Performing the ceremony

The bride and groom kneel on these pillows.

The proud parents.

The happy bride and groom :)

Flower girls.

The Pink One's friend Elizabeth.

The guests.

The after party.

Confetti for the newly weds.

The whole class.

Dancing and biscuits at the reception after the wedding.

Little brother joined in for a bit.

Enjoying her biscuits.

The Pink One was super excited all week for the wedding. It was fun seeing a marriage performed by a Vicar. The class will also be studying a non-Christian wedding, but not participating in one. The Pink One has some friends in her class that are non-Christian and I wondered if the parents would have them stay home that day, but they didn't. I love the mutual respect for various cultures and religions I have seen here. I was able to come home and have a follow up discussion with the Pink One about the difference between what we believe and what she participated in. I think that when you erase religion from education you aren't teaching kids tolerance and understanding, but avoidance. People tend to stay away from things they don't understand and that creates fear. The wedding was great, the kids had fun, and the   Pink One learned a lot about a faith different than ours as well as our faith because of this wedding.