November 21

We just got back from Children's Hospital.  Chloe had the tubes that were keeping her breathing passage open removed.  There were tons of cotton shoved up her nose, too.  She got super pale, almost passed out, and threw up.  I just fed her, and she's feeling much better. 

November 19



Reid Ewing from Modern Family




Lucas Till from the Hannah Montana Movie




Lucas Till





Kevin and Kristine's wedding

 Chloe opened her eyes today for a little bit.  Her bruising is just beginning to yellow.  She had Taco Lita for lunch.  Sadly, Chloe missed out on watching a movie being filmed at my Mom's house.  The girls were able to meet Lucas Till and Reed (the boyfriend of the oldest daughter on Modern Family).  We had a great time and brought Chloe back a bunch of autographs.

November 18

Chloe and Emily on July 4

4th of july face paintings

Chloe is a little fussy this morning.  She's sick of her nose feeling stuffy.  She has tubes in them to keep her airway open as she swells up.  She looks like she did when she was a baby with the tubes.  Today, the third day is usually the height of the swelling, and then hopefully, it will start going down.  She slept great last night.  Both of her eyes are swollen shut, and we are anxious for them to open.  The doctor said they'd be closed for about a week.

November 17

Chloe has done so well post-surgery.  She's been eating and drinking.  She has a red sore area at the bottom of her heel.  This is the only thing that's been bothering her.  They think it was from resting on a hard surface for the 6 hours of surgery.  They use egg crates to cushion the body in certain areas, somehow this spot was missed.  She also wants to blow her nose.  Her eyes are black and blue and very swollen.  Her tummy is a little sore from where she had liposuction.  She's been complaining a little bit and refuses to open her eye because it hurts.  Teenagers!  I guess she has an excuse.

All in all, she is doing fabulous!  We're hoping to come home around noon today.  She's been asking to go home and see Scooter.

Thanks to all our wonderful friends and family for your prayers and well wishes.  We are once again extremely thankful this season.

6 hour surgery is over!

The doctor ended up working on Chloe's nose and injected fat into some areas of her face.  She is in recovery resting.

9:50 Chloe's in surgery

After a lot of kicking and screaming, they got the IV put in.  She was requesting jolly ranchers and coke- yum.

1 year Anniversary

We are celebrating by having another surgery today.  We just went through preop and are waiting to go up to surgery.  Surgery is set for 10:00.  Chloe is having an orbital expansion.  They will break the bone and reconstruct it in hopes that her eyeball will sit farther back.  This way it will look more like the other eye.  We've had it planned since August.  She has been very brave until this morning.  We had to drag her to the car.  Surgery should last 2-4 hours.  She will be staying at the hospital 2 days max.

Here are a few pictures from the past year.

Halloween 2011

Tessa's First Communion

Katie' 5th grade promotion

Can't get over fancy girly Tessa

March 28

Chloe's back to school - life is back to normal.  Thanks for everything!


after



before

March 23

We ended up going to Disneyland on Tuesday because we were worried about the weather.  I didn't tell the girls and surprised them in the morning.  Chloe was dancing for joy.  She has been so excited about this day for all of these long months.  She has been planning and talking about it nonstop.  It was a gorgeous day, and we all had a blast.  The girls all went on California Screaming and loved it.  They all wanted to go on again.  It was a little crowded, but we went on a lot of rides and watched Fantasmic.  We got there before opening 8:30 and got home around 11:30.  It was a long wonderful day, which was well deserved by all.  The perfect ending to Chloe's 5 month journey!

March 21

Chloe and I went to see her doctor on Friday.  He said everything looks great.  She got the green light to finally go to Disneyland.  We might go Wednesday if the weather holds up.  She is feeling brave enough to go on California Screaming for the first time.  Hopefully, Tessa will be tall enough, so the whole family can go together.  She feels good and looks super. 

Life is almost back to normal, we are planning for her to start back to school after Spring Break.
We are camping in Jalama for Spring Break.  We are looking forward to it.  It's a beautiful beach above Santa Barbara, and we are going with a fun group. 

Chloe is a little nervous about going back to school.  She is a home body and has loved being schooled at home.  I'm going to have to kick her out the door.  I know she'll be fine once she gets back into it. 

Thank you everyone for making Chloe feel so special and loved.  So many of you have been so kind to Chloe when you've seen her out and about - thank you, again.

March 13

Chloe took a shower this morning and washed her hair.  Her swelling has continued to go down.  Her face feels a little sore, but she's feeling herself.  She baked yesterday.  Thank you for all of your  kindness.  I think Chloe is surprised at how much easier and quicker this recuperation has been.  I will call her teacher to come back for next week, and she'll see the doctor possibly on Friday.  Hopefully, as long as she continues getting better maybe she could start back as early as the 21st.

March 12

Chloe's swelling seems to be better already.  At the end of the night, she was able to open her eyes a teeny bit.  She is still asleep right now.  Hopefully, she will have some more improvements this morning.  She hates the smell of anesthesia.  Today, they said she could take a bath and wash her hair.  I hope she's up to it.  It will make her feel much better.  Yesterday, she was feeling up for visitors.  I think she would love to see some friends this weekend.  Thank you. 

Thank you Olivet Church and Uncle Bryan and Aunt Carol - the card was so heartfelt and kind.  We appreciate all of your prayers - they are working!  Thanks Rod for the sweet phone call - you made my day!  XOXO

March 11

Chloe is doing well.  It makes for a long day when you can't see.  Other than that she is feeling good.  Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers.  We are so lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives.

March 10 Happy Birthday Uncle Peter Raulli

It was so nice to sleep in our own beds last night.  Chloe didn't budge.  Her eyes are swollen shut.  She has two incisions on the outer points of her eyes where they took the plates out.  They reshaved two small sections of her hair by her ears to remove the plates as well.  She has stitches there and behind her ears.  She has an incision running from her nose down her lip and one eye has an incision in the inner point.  Her face is very swollen today.  Normally, it takes 3 days for the swelling to reach it's worse point.  On the fourth day it slowly starts going down.  The next few days will be tough not being able to see, but it is ssssssooooooooooo much better than last time.  She will be fine.  This time she can eat and isn't in as much pain - yeah!

March 9 She's out! 10:18

Chloe's out of surgery - just saw her wheeled down the hall.  The doctor worked on her lip, eyelid, and took out the plates.  He didn't work on the tear ducts because he needs to check if the tube is connected to her nose.  Everything went well.

Coming home tonight - yeah!  Thanks for all of your love and prayers.

March 9 - 8:13

Chloe went into surgery around 7:00, and we went to dinner.  She did pretty well this time.  The meds worked.  She threw up because she was so hungry - empty tummy + meds.  She was very brave for the IV and called Grandma to let her know. 

Sounds like the doctor might not do as much as we originally thought.  We might even go home tonight!  Yeah!

March 9 - 5:16

Chloe wants to just go home.  She was crying and only wants the plates taken out.  She's taken some Advan and is watching TV peacefully now - yeah!  Hopefully, the meds will kick in before they work on the IV.


Thank you Mackenzi and Estrella family for the cute craft kit.  The girls had fun with it yesterday - miss you - love you!


Keep you posted.

March 9 Surgery Day

 Chloe went to Arroyo Grande to visit her cousin Emily.  She had a blast.  This was a bribe to try to help her remain calm for today's surgery.  We'll see if it works.   So far she is extremely calm 4:25.  



While Chloe was beaching it this weekend, Uncle Kurt and his family enjoying their new life in Bend, OR.



March 2

7 days to go until surgery day - March 9 - yeah!!!!!!!

February 26 Happy Birthday Brad!

Today was such a difficult day for our whole family.  Our dear, loving, kind friend Brad - We are heartbroken and miss you so much.  You brought so much love and joy to our lives. 

Catrina, Lauren, Lexi, Caylee, Toby, Gary, Jeff, Jennifer, and Scott- We are so sorry and sad for your loss.  Brad, you are in our hearts and thoughts forever. - Love you Beek!

February 21

Chloe had her preop appointment today at Children's Hospital.  Chloe is getting her teeth cleaned on Thursday!  Yeah.  She wasn't allowed to brush her teeth for two months, so this is much needed.  She was told she can chew again.  My parents came home from Bend, Oregon tonight and brought Chloe In'n'Out.  She was so excited and ate 2 cheeseburgers. 


Her surgery on March 9 will be around 7 hours long.  The doctor will remove the metal plates, revise her lip, work on her eyelids, and put tear ducts in her lids.  She will stay for one night at the hospital and will hopefully recover in two weeks.  We are excited to have this whole procedure behind us and for Chloe to go back to school again.  She is an inspiration and extremely brave.   We all feel like we have become such a closer family through this tough time.  We are so blessed.

February 16 -Chloe's 12th Birthday & Peter's 1st

Chloe is 12 years old today!  We are three weeks out from surgery day - March 9.  Thank goodness it has been a long haul.  We are so blessed to have had all of our family and friends as a wonderful distraction.  Chloe has her preoperation appointment this Monday.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Life is Precious- Our love and prayers go out to our special family friends.

Chloe's first post

Check it out!  Now that I am feeling better, I have made a video of my sister Tessa and posted it on youtube.com if you would like to watch it go to youtube.com and type in tessa's hip hop world.   ENJOY!!  Today my mom and I went to Downtown Disney and had a blast!!  Love you all - Chloe

January 23

Chloe had a fever this week, which she caught from her sister.  Today she felt great, and we walked down to town for breakfast.  She is still having trouble sleeping comfortably, due to the knobs behind her ears.  She went to her good friend Bre's birthday and had a great time.  She loves being with her friends.

Thank you to all of my amazing friends for the generous gift - sending Chloe to the Taylor Swift concert.  She is beyond excited and looking forward to August.  Thank you Katie, Kelli, Lisa, Silvia, Ani, Jill, Sue, Rochelle, Kristen, and all of your families.  Our family is so extremely lucky to have such great, kind, and generous people in our lives.  We can't convey how much we appreciate your kindness.

Lisa, Tara, and Stephanie, Chloe loves her adorable dance bag.  She feels so special to have such a beautiful and girlie bag.  Thanks for spoiling her.  She can't wait to take it to dance on Monday.

January 11

Well, I have a lot of corrections to make.  I made a huge mistake on some dates.  The doctor told us we need to wait 3 months from the last day Chloe's screws were turned.  We thought it was two months, so her surgery will now be on Wednesday, March 9 -Ash Wednesday.  We also changed our minds about Chloe going back to school in two weeks.  She won't be going back for about 2 and a half months.  We decided it  
would be a better idea to wait.  She still has open wounds, needs to be careful with eating, takes 4 antibiotics a day, and is at risk being around such big groups of kids.  We're afraid she'll be bumped.  We want to be cautious because of all that she has been through.

Thank you Bonnie and Encore Dance for the beautiful poster, gift card, tank top, and hat.  Chloe loves all of it.  Thank you for making her feel so loved.  The news of her postponed surgery wasn't as hard to take because of your generous gift and going back to dance.  Thanks, again.

January 8

Chloe had her doctor's appointment yesterday.  Yippikayeah- it went great!  Chloe can brush her teeth again.  She is right on track with how she looks.  We are trying to book her surgery for Thursday, February 10.  She will have the plates removed and some eye work done possibly.  She was given the green light to go back to dance, and we are trying to talk her to go back to school in two weeks.  Her jaw looks fabulous, and therefore, hopefully she won't have jaw surgery.  If that is the case the next step will be orthodontic work  for her mouth. 

Life is good - she is pain free and happy.