Ellie's Surgery

On May 19th Ellie had surgery to remove a tumor from the left temporal lobe of her brain. We were very nervous about the surgery, because there was a chance that she could have permanent damage to her speech, memory, and eyesight.
Leading up to the surgery, our family and Ward fasted & Pierce gave her a beautiful blessing.
At 6:00 we arrived at Children's Hospital in Knoxville. We were surprised by bloodwork to start the morning, which did not give Ellie a very good first impression ;-). After we got to a room, Ellie was given "happy juice." It's medicine that gives her a sense of uphoria so she doesn't care that they are wheeling her away or putting her to sleep. Then the surgery began-right at 9:00. The nurse called every hour, just to let us know that everything was fine, & give us a progress update. The surgery lasted 6 hours. We had several visitors while we waited that helped the time pass. Jennifer Plott, Connie Lyles, Pop, Grammy, Pete, Uncle Jason, Aunt Carol, Melana, Grandpa, & Liz and Austin Jones all came.
After surgery, Dr. Harris spent 30 minutes talking to us about what they found. Unfortunately they weren't sure what it was :-\. What they took out was a mass of extra brain cells that had clumped together with an area of these extra cells, in a smaller amount, surrounding it. After the Pathologist looked at it the next day, he said he thinks it is a very low grade tumor known as a Pilocytic Astrocytoma. He then sent samples to Memphis for genetic testing to hopefully confirm his diagnosis. We won't have their findings back for another week.
Ellie's recovery has been awesome! When Pierce & I went in to see her, the first thing she did was wipe off his kiss (typical ;-))! The next day, she sang 2 verses of "Let It Go!" We had expected her to lay around the first few days home, but we are having to slow her down instead.
We will go to get her stitches out on Tuesday, & hope to hear from Memphis by Friday.
Heavenly Father has blessed us so much. Ellie's recovery has been fantastic, we have been able to keep ourselves together, our family has been such a support, & our trust & love for Him has increased.

Ellie Stands

One more exciting event at Ellie's birthday party was that she stood up by herself. I got a picture of the second time-the first time was way funner, but it's still an exciting moment in time!

Ellie's 1st Birthday

March 1, 2011 our baby girl turned one year old. I can't believe it's already been over a year since she came into our family! I was suppose to be back in shape by now...wonder what happened with that? :P Anyway, we celebrated her birthday on Saturday, March 5th with a family get together. Pop, Nana, and Grandpa came over for a Spaghetti Dinner and birthday cake. We enjoyed dinner, but the real fun began with dessert! Our children have been less than enthusiastic when it has come to their 1st birthday cakes, and we were interested to see how Ellie would handle it. For each 1st birthday, my Aunt Carol has made a special little cake just for the birthday child. The boys touched it, ate a bite or two, but really just weren't interested in their cakes. Ellie was not that way! She started out trying to touch the fire on her candle; after the singing she sat for a moment looking at her cake. Then she ran her hand gently along the surface of it, then poked one little finger into the icing. After tasting that she went to town! She grabbed little bits of icing and cake and shoved them in her mouth as quickly as her baby hands would go. She basically ate from one small section to the point that her whole hand was inside the cake and touching the bottom of the plate before she moved to a new section. She didn't get totally messy (much to her mother's relief), but she definitely enjoyed her first birthday cake.
Ellie received some fun gifts including a felt shopping bag full of "food," a Little People castle with princess & dog, a pink tutu & pink hair, a savings bond, and some new dresses.
As Ellie grows it is bittersweet for me. I love seeing her learn new things, hearing her talk/babble, and watching her interact with her family. I already miss the little baby who would sleep on my chest and look up at me with wondering eyes as I fed her. Since I can't (and probably wouldn't want) to go back, I will hold those memories inside me.
I can't wait to see the amazing things in store for this amazing little girl!
"Happy Birthday to You!"
Just a touch
"This is SOOO Good!"
"Want to share?"
Princess Ellie with Knight Draven