So, Ella has been having some strange stomach issues for the past year. She would randomly throw up a couple of times a week and she quit eating all of her favorite foods. We went to the emergency room last August because she was having severe pain and passing some blood. The doctors at the local hospital did a CT scan, but didn't seen anything abnormal. Well, it was the worst experience ever. The people who happened to be working that night either don't have kids or were just trying to see how bad they could torture us. Ella had to drink some barium and the guy who was going to do the scan brought it into the room in a measuring-type cup, handed it to Ella and said "here, drink this. it tastes awful, but you have to drink it." And then leaves. I almost followed him out the door and slapped his face. I mean, can't we at least get a princess cup or an umbrella or something?! So after bribing, encouraging, singing, dancing, drugging, and eventually threatening we were able to get her to drink some of it. It seemed like the trip to the emergency room was worse than the pain in her stomach. So fast forward a few months and we got to see a specialist at Texas Childrens. After talking to me for a while, we decided to just wait it out and see if she had anymore symptoms. Well, she did. So a month ago, we took Ella to have a colonoscopy. I was so worried about how she would do. The prep for a colonoscopy is awful anyway. She doesn't like juice or soda. All she drinks is water. Well, she did great. It was hard for her, but we were able to do all the prep with unsweetened iced tea. Although, she was WIRED at night after drinking a gallon of tea during the day :) I fasted with her because I felt so sorry for her after her second day, which hard her confined to a liquid diet. She even told me the liked chicken broth and asked that I make it again for her one day. She must have been hungry!!!! She did wonderful during her test. She was nervous about the IV and threw up once she heard they were going to have to give her one, but we had a fantastic nurse who did an amazing job with her. The first nurse blew out her vein the first try and then he came in and saved the day. We went back to the procedure room with her and the anesthesiologist put something in her IV and within about three seconds she was out! She looked so peaceful sleeping there. But the GI doctor told us that everything looked wonderful. We were looking for polyps and he didn't see anything, which was a huge relief to me. I am so grateful that she's ok. She still complains of random stomach aches, but we haven't seen anymore blood since a few days before the procedure. The doctor said to think of it as a "nosebleed" but for your colon. Still doesn't seem normal to me, but I am also not a doctor and I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt that he is smarter than google! I'm so thankful for doctors and modern medicine. I was wreck thinking about all of the different possibilities and scary scenarios. We did a lot of praying for my sweet girl. Ella and Sadie are so precious to me and give me such joy.

Ella's daddy is her superhero. He takes such good care of her and is so protective. I love him so much. He's definitely the strong one.

After she got her spirits back, she and I went to get pedicures. It was her first real pedicure. She was so cute. She leaned over when they were scrubbing her feet and whispered to me "they are doing all the mommy stuff this time!"