More hospital fun for the Nelsons! WARNING....GRAPHIC PICS BELOW

Thankfully this time although Ella got to tag along with Mommy Daddy she was not the one visiting the hopsital. Some of you may remember that right after Ella was born, I noticed a lump in my neck that kept getting bigger and painful. Because Ella was still in the NICU and we were so worried about infections I went to the doctor to get it checked out, and after blood tests, anitbiotics, refereals to different doctors and finally after an ultrasound and catscan, my ENT in Indiana decided that I would need to have a biospy done to determine if the mass in my neck was benign or not. Because we were moving in a week and the lump was actually getting smaller we decided to wait until we got to Spokane and if it didn't go away we would have things taken care of here. This was a relief to not worry about anymore on our trip out here, it continued to get smaller and wasn't bothering me anymore. Anyway about 2 weeks ago the lump started swelling again, was bigger then before and more painful, so that was motivation enough to see and ENT here (ironically at the office where Lance is doing his externship) and I was told last week after a needle biopsy that I would need to get a full biopsy. So that's what we did this past Monday. A Big thank you to all our families for the fasting and prayers. I went in Monday morning, and the surgery took about 2 hours. They just made an incision on my neck removed the masses that were infected or inflamed and took "frozen sections" (don't ask me what exactly that means) and evaluated them right there to see if there were any cancer cells. They determined that everything looked benign (YEAH!) and stitched me back up. So it was a big relief to wake up and hear the great news. They think the mass was a branchial cleft cyst (We will find out on Thursday or Friday the final verdict on that). Bascially it's leftover tissue from development (like in the womb development....crazy) that just resurfaces basically at some point in life. So after spending three days recovering so far, I can say that I would much rather have a baby then get a biopsy done! I think I slept off and on ALL day Monday. Tuesday I was more coherent which was nice but still pretty uncomfortable. Thankfully Lance was able to take Monday and Tuesday off from work and did an awesome job as Stay-At-Home-Dad. Although I think he has decided that he would never officially want that title. :) I've actually never seen him so tired (I think EVER!)
Here are some lovely pictures for the medically curious.

After the surgery they put a tube in my neck to drain fluid out and Lance got the fun job of pulling it out my neck a day later. I couldn't believe how long it actually was....I know pretty gross!

Ella goes WIRELESS

See....she's really excited about it....Actually I don't have any pictures with her "off" the monitor. These are just some from weekend.



Enjoying a walk outside

For anyone interested Lance's sister Leslie got these cute cute dresses and bows from peekaboo bowtique.

http://www.peekaboobowtique.com
They are called pillowcase dresses. I hadn't seen anything like them before but my friend in Indianna borrowed one from me to make a pattern and whipped one up for her little girl in a day I'm sure if I knew more about sewing they would be really easy to make.

First Beach Trip

Little too much Sisterly love. :)

Yeah!!!! So today we got the report back from the Neonatologist that Ella no longer needs her Apnea monitor! Lance called me from work to give me the good news and I immediately "unplugged" her and it was a very surreal feeling to just pick her up and walk around with her. Lance came home from work and felt the same way. She actually seemed a lot smaller to us...(I guess carrying an extra 3-4 pounds of monitor along with baby makes a difference) Anyway...we are thrilled with the news, and now we just need to get used to not being monitor dependant.

Yeah for Ella!

Here are some pictures of the Girls wearing the adorable dresses and bows that Lance's sisters got for them. Too cute thank you again Nelson girls!

And a couple of Ella from our little trip to Coeur d' alene this past weekend. We just went swimming at the lake there and although Ella didn't get in the water we still had to dress her for the occasion anyway.

4th of July

We had a blast on 4th of July! Lance's parents just finished a mission and came out to see all their kids on their way home and we were lucky enough to have them here for the 4th. It was insanely hot for Spokane (like over 100 degrees every day) but we still managed to go strawberry picking, have a bar-b-que, play on the rides downtown, go swimming, enjoy the fireworks show, and do a few sparklers at 11:30 at night. Fun Times!

All about Ella...Finally! 3 months old.

I have been wanting to do an Ella update as much for myself as for those who have been inquiring but I really wanted to catch up on all my updates before I did it (People are probably saying why? who cares? it's just a blog!....but it's just the part of me that feels a strong need to document life so that I don't forget these moments and the ocd part of me that would really like to do it in order that motivates me so there you have it...if you were wondering....which most likely you weren't!)

Our little Ella Bella:

Ella is 3 months old now

So right before we left for Seattle Ella went to the doctor and weighed 8lbs 6 oz. Yeah for weight gain, although now I am sure she's at least a pound heavier then that. She is almost too big for her newborn clothes.

She is doing awesome, sleeping well (she did 10 hours the other night...that was a good night!), and she is smiling, cooing, and talking to us all the time. She can stay awake for about an hour at a time which is huge because she slept so much for so long, and she is turning out to be a pretty happy little girl.

As for her issues, she still has some pretty crazy acid reflux but seems to enjoy Mommy's "Dairy Free Diet" Yeah for Lindsay who told me about Oreos and Girahdelli semi-sweet chocolate chips which are all Dairy Free...who knew!"

Even with the dairy free diet she still has some interesting bowel patterns and rather then poop on a regular schedule she would rather save it all up for a week or longer and then have one massive blowout. But it hasn't seemed to bother her to much she's still happy and still sleeps so we've decided it's just how her little body works! (I'm sure you all wanted to know this!)
She is still on her apnea monitor (which monitors her breathing and heart rate). We were hoping that she could get off at the end of last month but after a neonatologist reviewed the data from her monitor they said they would like her to stay on for another month and review things again because she was still having apnec episodes where she stops breathing for 20 sec. or more while she was sleeping. We just sent the data in for this last month so we should get the results sometime next week to see if she can go "cordless" :)

And that's our Ella. We are so grateful for all the progress she has made so quickly and for every new fat roll that we see on her little body! :) She has been a great little edition to girlyville over here.

Flower Garden

Beautiful flower garden by my house where my Mom and I took the girls for a picnic.

Mia in all her creative glory. Yes I did let her out of the house like this. Call it laziness, or honoring free agency but I didn't fight the battle when Mia picked this outfit out on our way to the park. Yep that's a blue shirt with a much longer tye-died tank top hanging out the bottom which is so long it almost covers the hot pink skirt she has underneath and is complemented so nicely by the shiny blue shin guards (yes that's right....shin guards...for no other purpose then to accessorize the outfit), and topped off with the navy blue Maryjanes that are at least 2 sizes too big!

Kennewick Reception

Maddi had lost her candy jar somewhere in all the layers of her dress and was sitting her trying to fish it out. We had not idea what she was doing until she pulled the candy jar out of her dress!

Uncle Erik helping the girls fill their candy jars.

Beautiful Jilly!

My Mom drove back with me to Spokane and then the following weekend my brother Erik and his family drove down Friday night and then we caravaned down to Jill and Dane's reception where he is from in Kennewick.

Ella Smiling

Giving smiles to her Big Sister

Hanging out in Seattle

Stroller brigaide. We tried going on a "little" hike from a park to a shopping center where we would end by eating icecream and then head back. We were a crazy looking group with all of our strollers, bikes, and scooters and while it was a good goal we made it probably 1/4 of the way THERE and then turned around packed the kids back in the cars and DROVE to the icecream store. Whatever works! At least we all had fun.



ALL the cousins in one place including babies!

Luke eating lunch while icing his wounded head: the price you pay for having fun with cousins. I think they were all having the greatest time throwing rocks at this point! His awesome Mom Jodi constructed this cool looking "ice-pack headband" to get Luke to keep it on his head. We all thought she should try and market these!

Mia and Isabel got to have a couple slumber parties with each other and as hard as she tried Mia could never quite make it through all the books!

Ella started smiling while we were in Seattle. However she didn't save it for her Mommy. Aunt Jodi got her first smile, and I think Aunt Lisa and my Aunt Tawnya got a few smiles. I didn't get one until we got back to Spokane! :) That's okay though.... I was just glad to see her finally do it. It feels like I've been waiting for it, for Forever!

All the Bradbury Family Grandkids minus the four babies (Grecia, Ella, Chloe, and Liam). We haven't had all my siblings AND all our kids in the same place in a long time.

Grandma reading books to the grandkids.

Cutest Babies EVER! For those who haven't heard, my older sister Jen and her husband Kelly adopted these two little miracle babies right before Christmas this past year. They were born in November at 24 weeks gestation and weighed about a pound each. It's truly a miracle that they are here! This was my first time seeing them and they are just adorable and the happiest little babies with tons of personality. They are 5 months older than Ella but only weighed about 1-2 pound more then her when we saw them this last month.

Cute Luke and Mercedes (Erik and Jodi's kids) holding Ella.

Lance was only able to stay in Seattle for the Weekend and then he flew back to Spokane to go back to work and I stayed for a few extra days in Seattle with my family and we had a great time.