singapore

no date yet, but getting closer. i did get a call from the transplant coordinator right before i was to get owen for his appt. with the surgeon. she gave me some updates on new appts and told me dr. warday (owens kidney dr) is in Singapore this week and we are waiting on his approval to make the date for the transplant. she apologized that he didn't get it done before he left but she said sometimes he likes to really think things over before jumping into them. we take owen back to the kidney center on tuesday so we keeping our fingers crossed that is as long as we have to wait to get a date. the appt with the surgeon went well, it was basically a consultation or in owen's words "no blood just talk doctor". he went over all the details of the actual surgery. he said the biggest challenge for him is the size of nicks kidney and the size of owen. he will remove owen one remaining kidney so he will only have nicks kidney. it will go in the front of his belly and he said for a while we may be able to see it until he grows into it :-/ of course he had to go over all the risk which is always scary and only feeds all the crazy thoughts in my head but i understand that they have to do it. owen has had a pretty rotten attitude this past week which makes me think he is just feeling chemically off and doesn't know how to express it.

here's a cute thing he said this morning in the car. we were listening to the radio while they were talking about micheal bolton leaving dancing with the stars and he says "micheal bolton....we only like micheal jackson" :-)

penguins, giraffes and owen....oh my!!!

Hi All!!!! i haven't received a date yet for the kidney swap but i did find out that he has an appointment with the surgeon this wednesday so if i don't get a date by then hopefully we will find out there. we are so anxious to start really planning for this that i can hardly stand it. we tried really hard fighting off our nerves this weekend spending time with family in st louis.

we left early saturday for st louis and heading straight to a park for trey's first b-day party. there was this huge hill there that owen had fun running or should i say rolling down but the poor little guy had a hard time getting back up it. he was so wore out :-( the worse part of the trip was sleeping in the same bed as noah, i'm sure nick would agree. that child can only sleep in his crib. he kicked, huffed, puffed, cried, wiggled, rolled and laughed all night long. never again will we do that.

today we went to the st louis zoo and had so much fun. this was my first trip to st louis since my dads passing and i had a hard time driving up to the zoo because i have tons of memories driving that way with my dad being that he grew up minutes from there. both of my parents are from there so driving to st louis on the weekends was as normal to us growing up as going to wal-mart is. so i got my cry out in the parking lot and walked in with new eyes, thru my kids eyes. the penguins are my absolute favorite. they are so stinkin' cute and you can get so close them. i just wanted to take one home

this is nick with my sister rhonda and a penguin. nick was so happy he was able to listen to the chiefs game on his phone and even more happy about the win.....go chiefs!!!!

here is livi with her cousin megan and some more penguins!!!!

livi and owen's favorite were the giraffes. i can't believe how tall they really are up close. there was a 3week old baby (not pictured) they didn't want to stop looking at it....it was so cute!!!

owen also liked the camels. he is such a goof ball!!! i hope that the surgery doesn't take the away from him and he goes back to being his goofy self asap :-)

noah's favorite was this boar/hog thing.....like pumba on lion king. he kept calling it a pig and even remembered it when we walked back by. it was so sweet. i have to say that going to the zoo was the best $11 we have spent in a long time. that's right.....unlike kc zoo st louis zoo doesn't charge to get in the zoo they only charge $11 for parking. we ate breakfast before we went, brought a few snacks for the kids and only paid $11 to be inches away from penguins and a couple arms lengths away from giraffes. (there are some other attractions there that cost $3-$5 but we didn't do this time) the weather was perfectly cool and a little bit rainy but still completely enjoyable. it was well worth the trip and worth seeing the kids faces when the saw all the different animals. fun fun weekend!!!!

anyone that knows owen knows that he has to have a drink of water at all times....i like to say it keeps him balanced. lately nick and i have discovered that he has been getting up in the middle of the night going downstairs to get a cup out of the cabinets using a chair to get some water. while i'm impressed he is doing this on his own i fear that he will fall and i will go down in the morning to find him knocked out on the floor :-( so tonite i'm putting a cup in his room. we'll see how it goes.

pics and kidney update

owen at his first day of kindergarten at CCVI
Livi (with noah) on her fist day of 1st grade

my little noah so proud of his scribbles in permanent marker on my wall

owen with his teacher and classmates doing their chiefs cheers for the charity game

livi touching a horse for the first time this last weekend in arizona

last tuesday nick and i took owen to see his dr at the kidney center. we both had a lot of concerns about owens failing health, lack of growth, information we researched about kidney failure and the previous decisions that have been made. after bringing up and discussing these issues with his doctor, he decided that it would be best for owen if we moved forward with the kidney transplant. nick and i are so nervous but so happy at the same time to be finally planning this. nervous for the obvious of course. but so happy for owen....he will finally start to feel better, can catch up with other kids his age and gain weight!!!!! (he has gained 15lbs since i brought him home from the hospital almost 5 years ago and right now he weighs the exact same as noah 30.3lbs) he will still have many obstacles to over come with his recovery but we truly believe that this is a step in the right direction. we haven't been told an exact date yet but they are shooting for the last week in october, i hope to know for sure by the end of this week.

this last weekend livi and i took a girls trip to visit one of my best friends in phoenix, az. she has a 14 month old daughter jaaten that i absolutely adore and enjoy every time a get to see her and her mama. we had the best time. thank you so much megan and jaafe for having us. nick stayed back home with the boys for some guy time :-) they worked on our fence with nick's family just before the big storm came. it's not done yet but getting there. today was nick and i's 9 year wedding anniversary....nick sent me chocolate covered oreos and red roses to work. he's such a good guy. i love him so much and couldn't ask for a better husband and father for our kids. this weekend we are taking the kids to st. louis for my nephew trey's 1st b-day and while there we are taking them to the zoo. should be lots of fun!!!!

check

HELLO!!!! i will finally be able to check updated my blog off my long to do list. the main reason i haven't posted was due to some computer issues we were having this summer in which that dell had to send someone out to put a new hard drive in our lap top. at this point i can use the computer but can't upload my photos, nick is working on it. so there will be no pictures this time, but i will get them up asap.

summer is officially over at the hughes household and we are in full back to school mode. summer was great!!! it went by so fast, too fast!!! we took the kids to the mall of america towards the end of july and had so much fun. august was spent swimming at the smith's pool (thanks mary jo and bill), going out on aunt nat-nat's new boat, and getting the lids ready for the new school year. which brings us to back to school. alivia is loving 1st grade. she has the same teacher she had for kindergarten and i think all the same kids are in her class. i get so amazed daily at how fast she is growing up. owen is still going to CCVI.....yay!!!! he is in their kindergarten. when nick and i decided to keep him at CCVI that meant that we would have to transport him their ourselves this year. (stupid independence school district) so that has created my biggest challenge this school year.....i have to get liv on the bus at 8:20am, noah to his sitters in blue springs on the days i work (3-4days) and then owen to CCVI in kc by 9am....ugh, wore me out just typing it.....and then do it all again at 3pm. thanks to our neighbors, their sitter and nicks mom we seem to have a routine that has been working. this weekend we took liv and owen to the circus. liv loved it and owen did too at first, but i think that visually it was a little bit over stimulating for him because he started to not feel good and slept for more then half the show. :-( still we had a good time!!

owen has been doing ok. he goes back to the kidney center tuesday. his labs have been getting a little worse. he gets tired very easy. and just has some really crumby feeling days. so i'm really anxious to go to this appointment and see what we find out.

noah is growing like a weed and makes us smile & laugh everyday. i couldn't love that kid more!!!!

thanks everyone for being great family, friends, and supporters!!! i will try my hardest not to make you wait so long between posts again :-)