Grandma Susan's Visit

Grandma Susan came for a little over a week to spend time with us. We whisked her away to Palm Springs for an overnight trip since we wanted to take a mini vacation mid-week and she has never been there before. It is the land of country clubs and golf courses. Even their golf carts are all decked out.

We happened to arrive in 105 degree weather, so we hit the pool for the first day. Kalista had a fun time since they had a beach area that she could run around in.

Grandma and Kali shading themselves on deck

Dad and Kalista after a day at the pool

Kali resting on her bed after a long afternoon by the pool

We ventured to the artsy district and passed some memorable landmarks from the last time we went to Palm Springs (which was when Matt proposed). Since art galleries and high end shopping weren't tickling our interests, we thought long and hard about whether we were going to do the Palm Springs mountain gondola lift. In the end, we decided to just head home. Maybe we will get to do it the next time we head back to Palm Springs.

Grandma Susan got to go to a few doctor appointments and playgroups whiles she was here. It was cardiology week, so Kali had to do an EKG and be hooked up to a Holtor monitor for 24 hours. We thought she was going to pull a Godzilla moment and rip off all the sticky wire leads, but it really didn't seem to bother her at all. She played everywhere with her monitor on. If her arrhythmia isn't too severe, then we get to push our cardiology appointments to a yearly basis. Yay!

Grandma Susan also got to a chance to go to one of Kalista's "Toddler and Me" groups. Kalista showed Grandma all her furry stuffed friends and her favorite toys. It was oil-dough and painting day. Kali had fun poking the oil-dough, but tears came flowing when it was time to paint her paper pumpkin. Guess it was not a Picasso moment!

Latest Medical Updates

Whew...we have had plenty of visits to Rady's this week and to Kalista's second to last physical therapy session.

Last Wednesday we had Kalista's almost final PT session. We impressed Ms. Tami with all of our new found moves. Kalista walked around everywhere...climbed up stairs and even danced a little bit. Since there were no obvious concerns, we will be back for our last PT visit when Kali turns two. Yay!

On Thursday, we saw Dr. Gosman for our follow-up visit to see where we stand regarding the tissue expanders. Just one look and she knew Kalista was still too small for surgery. Besides her petite stature, her g-tube is another concern. Dr. Gosman would love to be able to do the surgery without Kali's g-tube in place. The possible mixture of stomach contents and the material for the tissue expanders are a big risk factor for complications...not good. So our job until our next follow-up visit in January is to get Kali eating up a storm so we can wean her off her tube.

Kalista is too smart! Just today, she held up her tubing and food container to Matt, letting him know it was time to eat. Ugh!!! At least she knows one way for food to get to her tummy...we just need to teach her the other way.

So bottom line...no surgery planned.

We saw the nutritionist today and because our insurance has decided to drop all nutritional coverage, we have been responsible for some pretty expensive formula for the past two months. Rayna, our nutritionist, gave us the thumbs up to switch Kalista to a more commercial full nutrient formula, such as Pediasure or Boost for Kids, given that she can tolerate it well. We'll see which one Kalista likes the most and go from there.

It was a packed day; we even have feeding therapy/OT this morning. Kalista joined the other two boys in her group for another uneventful week. She just sits and watches one boy chow down food without chewing (his parents are constantly doing the heimlich maneuver) and then we have another little boy who chews, but doesn't swallow. Kalista is another category in itself...she can chew and swallow, but doesn't want to bring foods to her mouth regularly. She is slowly getting better....she tried grapes today for the first time and will eat yogurt melts and star shaped rice puffs if we put them in her mouth for her. One baby step at a time....

Shamu and You Walk- Update

WE DID IT!!!

Team KIND (Kids In New Directions) raised a little under $900 for Rady Children's Hospital today.
We want to thank all of you for your support and donations!

Here a few pictures from the 5th Annual Shamu and You Family Walk through Sea World and Mission Bay:

Thanks for all of your support!

Kali is ready to start the walk/ride

Team KIND's little walkers

Kali and Dad enjoying the day's event

Getting a bird's eye view

Kali swapped her trike for her stroller and worked up an appetite

Out of Town Visitor

Jen's Great Auntie Jo came down from Northern California to visit and meet Kali for the first time. We have not been able to head up to north for the past few holidays either due to medical stuff or work schedules...so we have been in San Diego for the past three years and have had only immediate family visit. We miss seeing all our extended families during the Christmas holidays. Cross our fingers that this year we will be able to make it up there.

While Auntie Jo was in town, we spent an afternoon at Balboa Park and enjoyed watching all the different walks of life. We hardly spend our weekends at the park because it can be so busy and the folks that are out and about can be interesting. We tallied up the total number of wedding parties happening on that Saturday and it came out to be around ten or so.

We stopped by the Japanese tea garden and to our dismay...closed for a private event (wedding???). We also ventured to the Botanical Garden...again closed...but not for a special event, we were just lagging and missed the open hours by 15 minutes. Our luck was dwindling. Kalista enjoyed the enormous water fountain and motioned to jump in like it was a swimming pool since all these other kids were frolicking in it (which might actually be a big no no). She loved the rose garden and took us on a long botanical tour by walking through every row of roses.

Auntie Jo stayed for a few more days, but promised to come back to see all the other sights San Diego has to offer another day.

Play That Funky Music

"Ooh Ooh Ah Ah"

It's Wednesday Zoo Day and we got to check out the new Panda Trek exhibit. One panda was sleeping and the other one...well....we're not sure what he was doing.


The orangutans are always a pleasure to see. One of them took to Kalista. Monkey see....monkey do.

"Wonder what Kalista is doing?", says the monkey.

Kalista says, "Let's have a staring contest."

"Wonder who won?"

Kalista's Homecoming Month

September is a special month for us. It's not only our wedding anniversary month, but is also now Kalista's homecoming month.

One year and a few days ago, we brought Kalista home from Rady Children's Hospital. This photo is on the first day she came home, September 1st, 2010. Look at those chubby cheeks! You just want to nibble at them!


One year and a few days later, Kalista has become an incredible little girl. Even on the worst hair days, she is still a little angel.

Look ma...I'm Rapunzel! Hold on..I can't see!

We decided to post this photo since we have a few members of our family that are big Jordan fans and evidently Kalista has become an official fan too.

We always say this....but Kalista has changed so much from her super chubby cheeked baby self to a chubby cheeked little girl. Her favorite thing to do now is to dance when she hears any type of music. It could be coming from the TV, a toy or even us singing...she will bust a move. Jen was singing one of the new tunes from Britney Spears and Kalista started jammin'. Check out the cool dance moves...

I'm dancing the night away...would you hold it against me?

Gotta Love Me Some Tortilla

YES!!!

Kalista did it..almost. We went to Miguel's the other day with family in town. Their queso fundido (white jalapeno cheese dip) is soooo good!

It was so good that Kalista decided to take her first grownup bite from one of the soft corn tortillas. The awesome part is that she picked up, bit it and then started chomping away and swallowed some of it before she fell asleep for the evening. You can even see her bite mark in the tortilla.



Kalista has also been doing some serious grocery shopping because she enjoys sitting in the mini car. We must admit that these little cars are the dirtiest thing you can put your kid in, but luckily most grocery stores now have those sanitary wipes. Scrub scrub scrub is what we did did did. Yuck!

Major Blackout

We just had a major blackout that took out all of San Diego, parts of Orange County and Arizona all because one little man didn't follow protocol. Of course no names were given as to who it was, since we're sure he is on someone's hit list. We were out of power yesterday from 3:45 pm to about 2 am this morning.

Jen and Kalista had just came home from running errands and while Kalista in the middle of watching "Finding Nemo" and being fed, the power went out. We thought we blew a circuit since we have been having a heat wave and the fans were on, the TV was on. But no....there was no circuit blown. All of San Diego was at an energy stand still.

Luckily we had an emergency earthquake kit in the making and we grabbed all the flashlights, candles and radio and prepared for the evening. Kalista got to experience her first "blackout". It really didn't phase her at all. She was determined to play with the wind up flashlight and that seemed to be the highlight of the evening. We are so grateful to have smartphones, since that was the only way to communicate with each other because we don't own a corded phone. Mistake number one...everyone who has a land line needs a corded phone. Our cordless was useless, since it of course relies on power...doh!

Bad news bears...cell phones also run out of juice. Matt didn't get home until almost 4 am since he had to make sure the hotel was fine in the event that the back up generators stopped working. On a positive note, Kalista's Joey/Kangaroo pump was well charged the night before, so she was still able to be fed via pump last night.

Better go finish packing that emergency kit...

Out and About

Hope everyone had a great Labor Day Weekend! 

Here's our latest life snippets:

School is back in session and Kalista's teacher came to visit today.  Our goals for the school year are to have Kalista say a few more words and phrases and of course, feed herself more.  She'll get there...we know it.  She has already kicked butt in the walking, smiling, hair modeling and looking cute skill set.

Jen and Matt celebrated their four year wedding anniversary today and celebrated with a nice sushi dinner at Sushi Deli 3.  Yum yum tuna and salmon! 

Because it has been so a muggy sauna here, we hit the pool this week/weekend.  It's all a blur when we went since the heat has melted away some of our brain cells.  All we know is that we had a refreshing time.

 Kali knows that she's gotta protect those precious eyes

Come join us for a swim!

Auntie Jeanette and Mike came to visit this past weekend.  We celebrated her belated birthday with a few tickets to a good 'ol game of baseball...yes....Giants vs Padres.  We're sure you all know who we rooted for.

With Jeanette's help, Jen ironed out all the wrinkles in how to make cake pops look more beautiful and tasty.  This batch was pretty good.  Yay Jeanette!

 Jeanette and Mike waiting to catch some foul balls.
There were a lot of them flying everywhere.

 Watching the Giants kick butt! Go Kung-Fu Panda!!!

Kalista knew it was going to rain on us while we were at Petco Park. 

Her little hand caught a few raindrops.

Kalista picked out her Halloween costume this past weekend as well, so she is ready to go trick-or-treating.  We have decided to all be monsters of some sort this year.  Roar!!!!  Argh!!!! (whatever sound a monster makes)

Last but not least...HAPPY BIRTHDAY UNCLE BILL!  Woo Hoo!!!