Lots to Report!!!!

The past two months have been the most eventful of my life, hands down! It all started in February when I landed in the ER with my usual abdominal pain. And yes, it was a Crohn's flare, which I usually bounce back from in a few weeks. Not this time. My health has been slowly declining since, even after trying all things natural and holistic!(everything) I have taken every supplement under the sun and done far infrared sauna and hyperbaric chamber treatments...and seen little improvement.
If all those can't help, I know what can. So, I broke out the big guns and headed for Hawaii knowing that it would cure me. Momi begged and begged for us to come out even though we were right in the middle of a move. So, we went. Ocean had a blast with Momi. I stayed in bed and in a couple of days ended up at Queens Hospital ER and stayed for 2 days. They told me my kidney's were begginning to fail as the diseased bowel was resting on them. Sweet. After being pumped full of drugs I left to enjoy a couple of good days in Hawaii visiting North Shore plantations and swimming in the beautiful Ocean. We were home by Thanksgiving with two days to move. Momi and Tim packed and moved our entire house in 2 days. So many thanks!
So, a day or so later I woke up with severe abdominal pain, and I knew it was bad.

We headed for Mission Hospital where I ended up in the ICU for about a week awaiting surgery.
Lots of prayers, blessings and tender mercies later I underwent major abdominal surgery where an amazing surgeon removed 2 1/2 feet of diseased bowel, along with my appendix (for fun) and terminal ileum and cecum and a portion of my colon. My kidney's were beginning to fail because of the pressure from the diseased bowel pushing against them, so I had an extremely painful tube sent through my back into my kidney that was supposed to alleviate the pressure. Super exciting! I'm trying to be quick because I have Ocean wanting to go outside on my right.

Thank you for every one's prayers and thoughts and cards. It has all helped so much!! I'm recovering well and getting better and better every day. My deepest gratitude goes out to Momi, My Mom and Miguel for taking such good care of Ocean while I stayed in the hospital. I was gone so long that Ocean began calling Baba, "mom." But, she still knows who her mama is! I came home to a very independent, stair climbing little love bug of a toddler.
Now, Miguel and Ocean and I are trying to settle in our new home and we are as happy as can be...hoping that 2009 is a little better than 2008. That's the super quick version. Love to all...

Ocean Love

She nibbles on an "apple" all day (could be a pear, but they're all apples to her) until they're completely covered in sand and hair and who knows what (especially at mommy baba's house)
Can you tell, we eat off the ground often in our home. Oh, and there's always a "ball" close by!
Hangin' with daddy outside in the yard.
She's addicted!!
Happy Birthday Auntie Amy!! Ocean got to visit with one of her new favorites! As you can see, Ocean just loved Amy. She even shared her apple with her :)

To My Fox Force Five Sisters of Love!!!

Ok, I'm totally new at this whole blogging thing and it'll take me a while to get used to it and even get good at it. With that said, I am so happy I finally took the plunge, because it wasn't so hard and all four of my long lost fox force (super foxy mama) friends have come out to be my first four comments! Nice to see I still got the love. I'm totally veclempt! I love you guys man and you all make me so proud! Really, you are all such amazing mamas with beautiful families! I'm happy to finally participate in the "keeping in touch" thing instead of just spying on every one's blog.
Nancee: It was so great seeing you also. I hope we can get together soon and have our husband's meet and go surfing while Erica and Ocean play. I laughed out loud after seeing the closing comments on Troy's super hero video...Very Funny!
Heather: Yes, I got your email. Thanks. I'm in love with Levi, he is such a little cutie! Maybe next trip to Cali we can see eachother cuz ain't nothin' bringin' me to Utah, sorry sister :)
Jenn: I'm totally impressed with your writing skills and love seeing the adorable little angels that have come from You and Marc, so sweet! Ocean is 16 months, very close to Kate's age, so it's neat to watch what stage she'll be at next.
and Sarah: Well, you know how I feel about you. I just love you and thank you so much for keeping in touch with me. You are the super mom of us all. And your blog is amazingly written and most importantly, it makes me laugh!! I love my fellow democrats, too!
I feel so grateful to have you as friends. I think we should plan a little fox force reunion. Hawaii??

More Aquarium pics...

The sting rays were very cool! Super soft and slippery.

Check out the sharks!! I Love 'em!
Ocean definitely couldn't live without Momi!! Ocean lives, eats and breathes for Auntie Momi!!
The fam...

Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach

Ocean LOVED the Aquarium. We all had a blast. My favorite was the shark tank. Miguel loved the birds...me, not so much a fan of the birds. Ocean's fav were the sting rays :) One of them came right up to her face and almost gave her a kiss.