Bella

Allow Me to Translate

Bella has suddenly become really confident with her writing and it seems that every day I find one of her secret notes stashed somewhere in the house. She writes these all by herself and is really making great progress with her phonetic spelling.

Note 1-an invitation hand delivered to Steve and I in bed early on a Sunday morning"Everybody come to my tea party in my room."



Note 2-an original story, written by Bella for her teacher to read to her daughter.
"Once upon a time there was a little dog. He had so much fun so he laughed all a way into the dog house. The end."



Note 3-a warning sign for Matea (that's her face in the circle with a line through it)"No Mateas. Go in to your room."



Note 4-an apology for the above note"Sorry Matea. We need a break (or c). I don't know which one." --- I like how she addressed the spelling issue right in the note.



Note 5-I have no idea what this one is about. I just found it next to my side of the bed this morning. It's quite cryptic."The things you are looking for are not in the same place."

Tatey

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

The girls enjoyed green milk, chocolate coins, and holiday t-shirts left in the bathtub by leprechauns this morning! Bella's pretty sure she figured out how they go into the house and is planning to investigate further after school.

Taking Turns

Now Tatey and I are sick. We just came home from dropping off Bella at school and she said she thinks Papa should come home and take care of us.

And I agree.

Lumpdate

Get it? Lump and update in one word. I'm so clever.

So, Matea had her 6 week followup and ultrasound with the ENT today. He measured the lump (about 12mmx4mm), checked blood flow to it (none), and checked the rest of her neck for other lumps or abnormalities (none). He concluded that it's not a tumor and is just an enlarged lymph node. He said there's still a very, very small chance it could be cancer but it's just barely above the "normal" size and it's only one lymph node out of about 300 in our bodies that's swollen.

He said our options are 1. to follow up with another ultrasound in 6 weeks. If it hasn't grown or changed, do another ultrasound in 6 months or so. 2. Do a needle biospy now to rule out cancer. 3. Do surgery to remove the lump and find out definitively what it is.

My initial reaction was to remove it. I'm ready to not have this hanging over my head anymore and just want to get a definite answer and move on. But the doctor really recommends waiting and doing another ultrasound in 6 weeks which is also what Steve wants to do so I think we're going with that option.

At Matea's appointment 6 weeks ago, the doctor estimated that the lump was about 10mm which means it hasn't grown or has grown very little. I keep reminding myself that it's kind of a freak thing that Steve even found the lump in the first place and there's really nothing else that concerns us.

ETA: After a trip to the doctor yesterday, we're now armed with eye drops for the pink eye and an antibiotic for an ear infection (she hadn't even complained about pain!). Bella's out of school again today because she still has gunky eyes and Matea's been fake coughing all morning to try and get out of preschool.

I haven't posted much lately because there hasn't been much to share. Our most share-worthy news right now is that Bella's home sick from school again today. She was out Friday with pink eye and is home again today with a terrible cough. So, she's snuggled in our bed with Matea, watching "Alvin and the Chipmunks".

Matea has her followup with the ENT on Wednesday. He'll do an ultrasound on the lump (it's still there) and get a better idea whether it's a tumor or just a random lump. That's just about all the news in our world right now.