Kidney Stones and Ice Cream Cones (Mika's 6th Birthday)

Forest is a pretty healthy guy. But about every 3-4 years he ends up in the hospital. Thankfully, his condition has never been life-threatening in these circumstances, and the hospital visits have always conveniently happened in years that alternated with my pregnancies. In 2010 it was pneumonia, and in 2014 it was appendicitis. I guess we were about due for another trip to the hospital, and this time, it was a kidney stone.

The day before Mika's birthday, Forest came home from work around 2 in the afternoon with stomach and back pain. When I read him a symptom list for kidney stones, he said it didn't match up. We assumed that there must be some other cause for the pain, and he spent most of the afternoon on our bedroom floor. I gave him a couple of doses of hydrocodone, (leftover in the medicine cabinet from the appendectomy) but he was still so uncomfortable, we finally decided to go see a doctor at about 7pm. I dropped the kids off with our wonderful neighbors and drove Forest to urgent care. He was lying down in the back of the minivan to try and manage the pain. Everyone at urgent care seemed fairly convinced it was a kidney stone but they sent us across the street to the ER in order to access their imaging to make sure. By this point, our patient's pain level had escalated even more, and it felt like an eternity before they could get the "good drugs" in him to bring some relief. I felt bad for not bringing him in sooner, but somewhat relieved that his ailment apparently would leave no lasting damage.

Once the super-duper pain medication started working, I left the hospital to pick up our children and put them to bed. I heard from Forest that the scan confirmed he had a kidney stone, and since it was only 3mm he would be able to pass it on his own. My dear neighbor and friend Paige, who had taken our kids earlier that day, came over to guard the sleeping children (and do some unauthorized dish washing) while I drove back to the hospital to pick up my kidney stone patient.

After a rough night of anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby kidney stone, it finally made an appearance the next day. I named her Pepper, for her striking resemblance to a mini-peppercorn. Although we didn't keep her, I will always remember that she shares a birthday with one of our actual children, Mika.

Speaking of Mika, this is how her sixth birthday went:

We organized a little Craf-TEA party for her the Saturday before both her birthday and the unexpected kidney stone. There were tiny ceramic teacups to paint, fake cupcakes to make, necklaces to string, and a pinata I made myself (with plenty of help from the internet).

I wanted to do a pull-string pinata to avoid having the kids swing a bat, and looked around for instructions on a DIY version to try and save some cash. A blog post from "Fancy Frugally" was my guide. Here is my personal documentation of the process: I taped up a cardboard box, cut a flap in the bottom, and made about 25 little slits in it with an X-acto knife. I threaded ribbon through each slit but only knotted one of them, making it the "winner" ribbon. 

I made two slits on what would be the top of the pinata and threaded ribbon through both in order to have something to help hang it up.

Next, I used cut up pieces of streamers to decorate the box. It was time-consuming, but rather fun.

Finally, I printed out some teapots and teacups, cut them out, painted them, and glued them to both sides of the pinata. Oh, yes, and put some candy inside, too. Voila!

As much as I appreciate the internet for birthday party  planning, I am so pleased to say I actually came up with the fake cupcake craft WITHOUT help from a blog or Pinterest. To prep this craft, I chopped off sections of a pool noodle and glued them into a foil cupcake liner. 

Then I took a quarter of an empty toilet paper tube, rolled it, and attached some yarn. I shoved this piece into the middle of the pool noodle/cupcake liner apparatus and taped the top to give it a dome shape.

Now all the kids needed to do was wrap the yarn around the cardboard spike until they made a little mound that looked like frosting. We glued a red pom-pom to the top as the cherry, and there you have it: an inedible cupcake for your viewing pleasure.

A few more pre-party photos:

And some during-the-party photos:

When the pinata came open and started showering candy on the ground, our birthday girl was the one who pulled the lucky winner ribbon.

Mika's actual birthday (6 years old!):

On her way to the bus stop:

I popped into the cafeteria at lunchtime to bring her a mini cupcake.

After school she finally got to open her presents

She got Apple Jack the pony from Paula,

Pinkie the owl from Ramona,

and Professor Hootsburgh from Wylie (but she was renamed Mrs. Featherbottom)

As Mika continued opening gifts, Wylie saw his opportunity and walked off with her Apple Jack. (You can see some large bug bites on his head in this photo--apparently while I was tending to our kidney stone patient the day before, Ramona took him outside to play. She did put bug spray on him, but didn't rub any on his face, so the mosquitoes really took advantage.)

We also gave Mika a plush Princess Cadance (after Mika had asked, rather politely, a couple of weeks before: "Mommy, if you could get me a Princess Cadance for my birthday, I would really appreciate it.")

Grandma sent an owl dress and a very realistic-looking horned owl plush

Jii and Baachan sent an owl game,

and Paca and Teresa sent a grey dress with some matching headbands

This little girl really was not lacking for gifts on this birthday.

By the time she was done opening gifts, she was practically swimming in owls and ponies.

Before dinner, there was some time to play, so the girls turned Mika's room into Equestria and played with ponies, old and new.

We of course had to serve pesto spaghetti, chicken nuggets, and fresh mozzarella balls for this birthday meal. Mika was thrilled.

 After making some wishes and blowing out some candles . . .

 . . . we dropped Ramona off at her dance class and went to Dairy Queen to continue our celebration with some ice cream (we saved Ramona a treat to enjoy after her class).

Our kidney stone survivor did not partake of any ice cream, but he was there!

Dear Mika,
   This past year has been a big year for you. You went from being a little reader to a big reader--you now share books with your older sister, and have basically formed your own book club between the two of you. At the same time you love your siblings and enjoy playing with them, you continue to define your own unique tastes and preferences--you are undeniably your own person and not just Ramona's little sister. You've made lots of new friends and love being around them, especially at parties. You still amaze me with your talent for crafts and creativity--you are truly blessed with an ability to see things not just for what they are, but for their artistic potential. Despite being good at so many things, you never take yourself too seriously, and your silliness brings smiles and laughter to everyone around you. You are so fun to be around.

We love you so much, darling Mika-Chica!
-Mommy

Strangely enough, after her birthday, Mika decided to name her horned owl "Stone." She said it was because of his color, but there are obviously other reasons why this is the perfect name for a plush bird that joined our family that particular week.