Sunday, May 29, 2011

Scrub Jay love

So Lucy and Abigail were outside having lunch in the sunshine, and they dropped a piece of bread, and a scrub jay quickly flew down and grabbed it. So Emmie went out with some corn tortilla, and they started throwing pieces of tortilla on a rock to watch the bird come back. But then there were two, and they were landing and sharing the tortilla really close to each other. So then Abigail whispers to Emmie - "Maybe the birds are...you know what." To which Emmie replies "What?" and Abigail responded "Maybe the birds are...you know...on a date!"

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Can't sleep (yet again!) :-}

Well, yet another night that I can't sleep. I'm sure I will be sorry I've been up so long when the kiddos starting waking up for the day! :-) I decided to come down over 2 hours ago and work on some bookkeeping, check email, and thought I would take the time to do a quick update on everyone. There isn't really much to update - but I keep getting emails asking - so here's the scoop:
Mom: She is currently at my house, and now can put 50% weight on her leg, as long as she isn't hurting (that is new as of yesterday at therapy). She will still have weeks of living with us girls, and her computer isn't working again! If you aren't sure where she is and are looking to get ahold of her, just email me. She is on the transplant list, but not active - pending her getting a clear report on a lung infection (too hard to tell if it is from years ago, and just scars, or current). She wants to be home, but other than that, she is doing well.
Lucy: She is amazing. We are down to therapy 2x a month, and her most recent MRI looks like they got it all! YAY!! She still has residual "weak ankle", and we are hoping that therapy and time heal that. She is now brace free - double YAY. Still watching the tumor on her brain stem - but now we don't have to go back for another MRI for 6 months. Next week is the end of 4th grade for her.
Emmie: Don't remember if I wrote about her abnormal EEG's - after her strange episode in September 2010. They can't pin it on anything, so they did an MRI - which came back normal, which is fantastic! Still don't know why the EEG's are abnormal, or what the cause is of her seizure/numbing - but they are pretty sure it will pass, and that it isn't Epilepsy. Also, she has pretty much received all the money for her Ambassadorship to Australia this July. Now she is just fundraising for her spending money, and to buy the Thank You gifts she is supposed to bring to hand out to everyone in Australia (i.e. - tour guides, home stay family, motor coach drivers, etc). This is her last week of 7th grade homeschooling (which we are both excited about), and her last meeting, including her big project for the Ambassadorship is this Friday night. A huge thank you to everyone who has helped her with this trip. I will do a separate blog about all those wonderful people (although it scares me a little, because I don't want to accidentally leave anyone out).
Abigail: She is gorgeous! Head to toe, model gorgeous. She is finishing 1st grade next week. She is still "feisty" as ever, with total Princess syndrome - but that is good, I've realized. At one point, she asked me what was wrong with her, because she didn't need therapy like the other three were doing at the time. I explained that therapy was good for Em, Lucy and Nate, but it was also a good thing not to need therapy. She lives her life dancing around, singing, and coming into bed with me for snuggles every morning before she gets in the tub with Lucy.
Nathan: "How do you solve a problem like (our Nathan)? How do you catch a cloud and pin it down?" Familiar lyrics - completely fit him. He is finishing his half day preschool next week, and hoping to do all day preschool next school year (starting in August). He is still as the song says - wonderful, silly, crazy, difficult, loving, or as some put it "All Boy" - so true, so true.
Esther: She is almost 19 months old, and everyone loves her. For all the crying I did when I found out I was pregnant with her - we wouldn't trade her for anything. We always tell her "How did we think we could live without you?" She is especially close to Emmie (Me-Me) since she was the one caring for her while I have been gone off and on lately - as well as Em being home everyday since I home school her. Esther loves signing, and uses more signs than words. She can see a sign once, and starts using it. She is so smart!!
Ryan: Is crazy busy with work right now, which has been a huge blessing that we can pay the bills - but we never know when he is coming or going, and when he is home - he is usually in the office editing. He has started playing "Pickle ball" at the Hulbert's house, and loves it. So much that he started a "Pickle ball Diet", and has lost almost 20 lbs so far.
Me: Same ol', same ol'. My memory is gone - I can't remember things from one day to the next, so I am a loony bird - but loving my family and grateful to God for blessing me as he does so immensely.

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Thank you for your votes!!!

So a HUGE thank you to everyone who took the time to vote for our kids in the Mash Destruction contest. As a result - we made it to the final 20, and the judges chose our roller coaster idea as a first prize winner of $1000. We will be putting in savings and adding to it to go to Disneyland with the kids as soon as we have enough saved with it. You can see the results at:
http://mashdestruction.com/final/winners
Thanks again!!! :-) You're support is awesome!

Monday, May 9, 2011

Mom's approved!

So here is some great news on Mom. We got a call that told us that she was approved for the Liver Transplant List. She isn't on it yet, because she has to do some more tests and classes over the next 4 weeks - but then they will put her on. So we will be back and forth to San Francisco a lot in the next month.
Also, the doctor in San Francisco did more x-rays on her hip, and said that he thinks it is healing just fine. He was calling her Ortho Dr. here, and talking with him about just putting Mom on therapy to start getting around.
So hopefully by next month, she will be on the list, and getting around more. Keep your fingers crossed and your prayers coming! :-)
Still the best way to reach her is by email, as she is still rotating between Tanya, Cheri and Me. :-)

Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Yet another update on Mom

OK - so I am once again in San Francisco with Mom and Tanya. We were here most all of last week, got home Saturday night from her Liver Transplant Oval, and had to be back Monday morning for her Chemoembolization. Not sure how long we will be here this time. I will let you know how things are going as we know.
For the Transplant list, they take all the information from the doctors we saw and tests that were done, and meet as a board with her Liver Doctor to decide if she gets on the list, and how high up - that will happen in about 2-4 weeks. I will let you know when that is decided, and more info on what will happen at that point.
As far as the Chemo - they will do a CT scan in a few months, to see if it worked or not, and we will go from there.
And her hip surgery we are still waiting on. They are looking at doing it in 2-3 weeks. We are still doing a "Mom-share", and so the best way to contact Mom is through email - and she can call you or email you depending on where she is.
Thanks for your patience, and remember - no news is good news...(that is until we are waiting on a liver, then we want news!). :-)