Cobbs Family

October 29, 2009

2009-10-29T13:48:00.001-05:00

Well, I found out that I have a protein s deficiency which can cause clotting issues throughout the pregnancy. So, as a precaution, they are having me inject twice a day a blood thinner for the rest of the pregnancy.

My appointment to learn to give shots was supposed to be tomorrow, but they had to reschedule until Monday.

I'm really not looking foward to this, as I really hate needles, but anything to get the twins here safely I'll do to the best of my ability.

So much for a "normal" pregnancy :D

October 22, 2009

2009-10-22T11:30:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I last wrote. Work is keeping me very busy.

This will be a short but sweet note... for those still following my blog:

We're pregnant again. With TWINS! We're due 6/1/10. So far I'm feeling alright - although I've already had issues with my stomach due to acid, so I've cut out all caffine, chocolate, sweets, fried foods, and tomato type products. The doctors said I could take meds for it, but I'd rather not take meds unless absolutely necessary.

I had an impromptu visit last week - due to some spotting - but everything turned out fine and now all the doctors are watching me even more closely. A co-worker commented when she found out "You can't do a regular pregnancy can you?"

I go for my "first official" visit tomorrow. They drew blood again from me this week, because my numbers were off that they think was due to mishandling. So hopefully the news won't be bad and we'll just wait and see.

The perinatologist is for us doing the earlier testing to just rule out anything. So I'll be having that done on November 13th. Hopefully we'll have the results back by Thanksgiving (including genders!).

I'm not too worried though, this is the first time in all of my pregnancies that I'm measuring "on time". Both Emily and Sarah measured behind in the earlier scans.

Emily is getting more and more grown up. She's speaking quite full sentences now and giving us the attitude of "what?" from time to time. Now on to potty training! She needs this before the twins arrive!

August 24, 2009

2009-08-24T22:24:00.003-05:00

Time sure does fly by.. especially when things keep happening to us.

I started back to work.. hitting the ground running.. literally. We have an initiative for training going on for the end of year. Plus the regularly scheduled classes, plus another initiative going into place that's going to change a few things about our classes.

So, as you can see, going back to work has kept me busy. So busy that I eventually caught a bad cold. Right around the time I had 2 weeks worth of training. Luckily our friends the Browns allowed us to stay with them (made my commute from 90 minutes to 15). But apparently during that time, we had a flea manifestation.

Our cats are indoor cats - so we never thought to get them with flea medicine. Well the few fleas that were brought in (by us) apparently multiplied and poor Em was the initial target. Her body is just COVERED with bites.

So, we decided to get down to business and bomb the house. Monday night we were trying to find Sophie to put her in a room with Daisy so that we could take them to the vet on Tuesday. Stephen finally found her in a crawl space and handed her to me. She was freaking out and as I was trying to calm her down and carry her up the stairs - she shreaked and died in my arms.

This brought back a lot of memories of Sarah dying in my arms as well. So needless to say I was really sad Monday night. I couldn't dwell on it though, as I had to teach the next day.

Wednesday we bomb the house. Thursday, I go in to "clean" the residue and basically spray this other spray on everything - as the bombing didn't get all of the fleas. I got the living room, dining room and bathroom done. Friday I spent all day doing the kitchen. Needless to say our rooms haven't been this clean for awhile.

Saturday we have to go out to get some more flea stuff and we stop and look at the kitties at the Pet Store. I was just looking to see what they had. On the way home Stephen decides to swing by the Humane Society. Again, we were just looking - but appears the cat has chosen us as his family, His name is Tucker and he's approximately 1 year old. He looks sort of like Sophie - although he has more white. But he is definitely a people cat. Loves to be loved. He even tolerated Em's cathandling.

So we're busy trying to finish up the 2nd floor so we can bring him home tomorrow. I still have the bathroom, and two other rooms to finish. We also still have the basement and attic area to do - but those have doors to them, so not as big of a hurry. Hopefully tomorrow Stephen will get to the back yard and cut down the "jungle" aka his garden/grass. It's my thought that's where the fleas are coming from.

I'll just be glad when this whole flea mess is over so I can relax again and hopefully work on the book.

That's it from us for now...

July 14, 2009

2009-07-14T16:05:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's been awhile since my last post - if anyone is still reading :) Been busy healing and then the family went on a mini vacation. I say mini because the place was approximately 3 hours away but we stayed the week. It was really nice to get away, although I could have done without the bugs.

I know I still haven't posted my story on Sarah - I will eventually. Stephen and I decided to try and write a book about our experiences with both Emily and Sarah. We hope that by sharing our story that others will find strength and some information that will help them along their journey. So, during our vacation - I started writing. I'm still writing Emily's story so, I haven't gotten to Sarah's yet. I think that's a good thing, because when we were on vacation, there was a family that had their 3 week old baby with them. It was hard for both of us seeing the baby, so I know we still have healing to do.

Our vacation was at a place called Capon Springs, WV. It's a little resort where a lot of families have gone for generations. They are known for their natural spring water - it helps reduce acid. The place was great - they have different activities - like shuffleboard, badmitton, dances, campfires, etc. They also have a very nice spa in the complex. The price per person they list includes all meals. The meals are fabulous and pretty much all you can eat. They have a large dining hall and they seat you at your table the first night you're there. That becomes your table for your stay.

For us, it was great, they had a "playground attendant" that watched the kids on the playground from 9AM-12:30PM. Often Emily ended up being the only one there by herself and all of the attendants loved her. We did ask for an acual babysitter one day that we had planned on doing a "soak" together.

By the end of the week - Stephen was still sick although getting better and Emily was coming down with it. Me - I'll probably get it this week and I head back to work tomorrow.

Family friends go there every year and we're planning on going there next year (if we can get in) with the week they go. That way we know someone and have some extra help if we need it. Plus they have a grandson Emily's age. So she'll have someone to play with. I hope to be in better shape so I can go hiking more and take more pictures.

Well that's it for now...

Sarah's Presentation

2009-06-16T10:58:00.001-05:00

Sarah's Presentation

For those unaware - Sarah was born, lived for almost 2 days, and then died. I will be posting her story here a little later. But for now - enjoy the presentation I put together of her brief but meaniful life.

April 14, 2009

2009-04-14T11:56:00.001-05:00

Easter has come and gone.... Emily got gifts from the neighbors and from church which included candy. Needless to say, she doesn't need it - so I've put it out of her reach.

We didn't do the "normal" thing for Easter. I felt she was still kind of young to understand. So hopefully next year she'll be good to go easter egg hunting. I actually look forward to it. But she did get a basket of goodies. Just no candy :)

Palm Sunday was great too. She was part of the kids' presentation. The 2-3 year olds got up as packets of seeds (Em was a Tomato). The other two girls looked so uncomfortable being up there. But not Em - she was singing (not knowing the words), dancing and smiling. Guess she takes after her Mom (the ham). The only down side to this was - no pictures or video - my camera batteries were dead.

I haven't posted a lot on here about what's going on. I just haven't either felt good enough to do it or have had the time. Work is extremely busy. Nice thing is they've got back up trainers doing training so I can work on other documentation. So far the training is going really well. Better than we expected.

I'm on a 2-week watch. After our last appointment on April 3rd - apparently from the 20th - I gained 10 centimeters of amnio fluid. So I had to get meds to hopefully help reduce some of it and get my rhogam shot (I'm negative blood type). The last appointment was bad in that I also had to do the gluclose test. Yuck!

So my next appointment is this Friday. My fear is the meds didn't work and I'm close to popping - so they're going to admit me early. Stephen and I hope that being prepared for that outcome means it won't happen. I'm not sure though. Since Sunday I've had some regular contractions (painful) and I'm still having braxton hicks (not painful - just tight). I have really "popped" as far as looking pregnant - in fact I don't think I looked this pregnant with Emily at 9 months! Stephen jokes that if we hadn't had the ultrasound you'd swear I was carrying twins!

I'll try to do better in keeping everyone posted on what happens after Friday. Just we're in hurry up and wait mode right now.

Hopefully our bathroom remodel will be done soon and our new couch will arrive before I have to go into the hospital! Only time will tell.

March 17, 2009

2009-04-14T11:46:00.001-05:00

Well I turned 40 on Friday, March 13th. Most of the time when my birthday falls on a Friday - it's usually pretty good. This time, it was kind of mixed.

I didn't go to work - I had my ultrasound (u/s) appointment in the morning and my OB appointment in the afternoon.

For what ever reason, none of us really seem to get much sleep the night before. Emily and I kind of fell asleep on the way down as Stephen was driving. We stopped off and had breakfast and by then Emily was "boingy" "boingy" girl.

We got to the u/s place early. So we had to wait. They have some toys in the corner of the office and Emily just loves to grab one and drag it out to the waiting room and then run back for more. So I was constantly having her put back what she had just brought out. Finally it was our turn to go back.

Emily doesn't do well in the situations where I'm laying down and Daddy's in the chair. I think I might ask that we get another chair for her to sit in next time. They did some more measurements: Sarah is now 1 lb 3 oz. I at the time of the appointment was 25 weeks 3 days. She was measuring 24 weeks 6 days - so really only 3 days behind. That's where the good news stops.

The left side of the heart is definitely getting smaller. This condition is called: Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome. It's not a good thing. If she had this as a "healthy" child, she would eventually need a heart transplant. Medicine can keep the hole open so that the blood mixes correctly for a period of time. She also has multiple ventricular septal defects (VSDs). Basically holes in the wall of the bottom of the heart. Again a normal child this would be minor.

Then the really bad news, she apparently has some obstruction in the bowel. This is causing her to "reflux" and not process the amnio fluid. This causes there to be "more" amnio fluid and thus could make me go into pre-term labor.

March 9, 2009

2009-03-17T13:35:00.001-05:00

Well, didn't get done what I had hoped this weekend. Something keeps happening to me on the weekends - where I sleep a lot and don't have the energy to do the household things that need to be done.

It also seems that everything is suddenly "falling apart". I guess I should be grateful that it waited until we got our tax money - but geez..would stuff please STOP breaking? For example, the Van. Since that is Emily's main transport - I'm going ahead and getting things fixed. Then the newest laptop died. Actually the hard drive did. I've tried fixing it, but the hard drive is FRIED. How I know this - format c - something you only do when everything else has failed. That didn't even work. So now it's off to buy a new hard drive. Then this weekend, I gave Em a bath on Saturday night. Something happened to the shower mechanism between her bath and the next morning. Stephen was able to fix it - thank goodness.

Emily is now becoming more of a handful. I think we bypassed terrible "twos" and have gotten into the threes. She's becoming more verbal - but everything has to have drama associated when it's something she doesn't want or want to do. I'm talking full blown temper tantrums - on the floor kicking and screaming. Or it's tears for everything. She used to listen pretty well - especially when we were out of the house. But now, forget it. I'm constantly grabbing her hand/wrist before she takes off running in the parking lot. Then she gets mad because I've got a hold of her.

Everyone that sees her - can't but help smile. She's constantly saying "hi guys" to everyone (including those she sees outside while we're in the car). People are amazed at her especially when I tell them about her heart surgeries.

Sarah has been kicking a lot more - or I'm finally feeling them. She has some quiet times, but during the evenings she really gets going.

I had a beatiful dream last night, Sarah was born. To look at her you couldn't tell anything was wrong. She cried a little but they just kept saying how "mellow" she was and I was joking - couldn't tell that from the inside!

February 23, 2009

2009-02-24T15:54:00.000-05:00

I'm sorry I haven't had a chance to write much lately. Between work, appointments and being sick, doesn't seem to have a lot of time for much of anything else.

The last thing I wrote was about Emily's cardiac appointment. That happened to be on February 6th. Needless to say we were VERY happy about that appointment.

The next appointment was for another ultrasound (u/s) for Sarah on Feb 13th. Good news and bad news. They initially saw some soft markers at the last u/s which were cysts in the brain and "some type" of heart issue. They were leaning toward something along the line of the aortic valve. That's why we did the amnio.

This appointment they got a better look at her. The cysts in the brain - gone. The heart issue, after looking at it doesn't appear what they thought it was initially. Now their thinking that the left side is slightly smaller than the right. Still an issue - but they don't know if it's going to continue - so they'll keep an eye on it.

This time, they were concerned about her having "clenched" fists (something typical of T-18 babies) but later on she kind of "waved" at them to show them she didn't have that.

They saw some dark spots in her bowel area - not sure if it's an obstruction - still too early to tell. So they're going to keep an eye on it.

They also think she has a cleft palate/lip. They don't know for sure - because couldn't get a really good look at it.

I did get some pictures - I just have to try and get the scanner hooked up so I can scan them in.

Then Em caught a cold and gave it to me. She's pretty much better - I'm now on week 2 with it. Plus I've had to train with it.

Our next appointment was Feb 16th - which was up in Philadelphia with Shriners for Emily's spine. They were pleased in that her curve hasn't progressed any since the last time she was there. I also got to meet the doctor who will be doing the surgery (not the one we've been meeting with). Seems very nice.

We explained the situation with Sarah and their thoughts on what we should do for her surgery - should we try and do it before the baby comes or after should the worst happen? They basically told us, it was our decision - but medically they didn't feel the surgery was medically necessary at the moment. They feel like we can wait until the fall.

The really good news is we finally got some answers to our questions on the surgery. The device (called VEPTR) will NOT attach anywhere to her spine. She'll actually have two of them, one on either side, and they'll attach to her ribs and hip area. The surgery is only expected to be 3-4 hours and her recovery should be quicker than if they had actually done anything to her spine. She'll be in a brace initially to help keep things steady - especially after seeing how active she was at the appointment.

The McDonald House is next to the hospital we'll be doing the surgery (it's brand new). One of the fellows they had at Shriners just moved to that hospital and will be a good POC for us. Even though Emily doesn't need a cardiac anesthesiologist - they're planning on having one there for her.

Finally, I have a new OB! Her name is Meg Ryan (and no not the actress). I really like her and she's been down the road before with families that have gone through T-18 babies. Sarah liked her too - because she actually moved around the placenta to let the doctor hear her heartbeat and so she could kick the doppler. She's willing to work with us and wants to keep an eye on Sarah and me. Just to make sure there are no complications.

Barring anything "happening" before my due date. The plan is to do a c-section a week before. Which makes it approximately June 16th.

The good news is it's close to work and they're right by the hospital :)

Next u/s and doctor appointment will be on my 40th birthday (March 13). Should be an interesting day!

February 6, 2009

2009-02-06T20:42:00.000-05:00

Well good news there! The Doctor (she) said everything looked great. If Emily wasn't having the spine surgery that she didn't want to see Em for a year! But because of the surgery - they'd like to see her to make sure everything is still ok after it.

We also asked about her spine surgery and the need of having a cardiac anthestiologist (sp). She told us it would be a nice thing to have - but no longer necessary - especially now. We are going to get the contacts at the hospital and give them to her to get her opinion after she speaks with them.

She was also great about talking to us about Sarah. I think this was the first time I got a very good understanding about Trisomy 18. The way she explained it is that due to that extra chromosome these kids have they have a hard time getting their brains to do the "normal" everyday things that a person needs to do - breathe, excrete, etc. She also said that they have a hard time healing after something like major surgery.

She told us they would work with us with what ever we wanted to do. Their hospital works with the perinatologist that I've been dealing with, so that's really comforting to me. They'll help us understand her heart issue and what that will mean when she's born.

I think this is the first time I'm at peace with this whole process. Don't get me wrong - I'm still sad about losing her at the end, but the last thing we want to do it try and prolong her life that may cause her suffering.

Overall - it was a good day - even with Emily having a slight vomiting case last night and the sniffles/sneezes all day. Tomorrow she'll be going to her first (someone elses) birthday party and that will give Stephen and I a chance to go to a movie and have some "us" time. Sunday we'll be heading to church and then do late lunch/early dinner with our neighbors.

Next Friday - I have my next u/s and hopefully will be able to discuss OB's with the perianatologist. I'm also hoping Sarah will be more cooperative and we'll see what other "issues" she may have.

Oh and Happy 42nd birthday to my brother Jon!

January 31, 2009

2009-01-31T09:20:00.001-05:00

Well, this has been an interesting week. Snow then ice, 2 hands-on training and 3 virtual classes. Trying to get all the materials ready for next week and then finding out the other trainer is being pulled out of 2 classes next week to do something else. Which normally I wouldn't think of as a problem, but he doesn't currently know the classes.

Luckily, I asked if I could stay with the firends two nights next week - because I won't be training where I work - it's actually 45 more minutes from work. With traffic and being pregnant, I knew just wouldn't work for me to try and train 3 days like that. Plus it's supposed to at least 1 or 2 days to be cruddy weather.

I was supposed to have had the documentation done for the new class - but I kept running into issues. So just before I left last night - I thought it had all been "fixed" so that when I came in this morning, I would be alright. Well, I didn't know that they would be taking down this one system, which affects what I'm to do. So, I'm trying to put together my documentation without doing that process, which affects finishing it out. So we'll see what progress I have today. Apparently the system will be up tomorrow - but I don't really want to come back tomorrow unless I really have to.

As far as what's going on with the pregnancy - not much. I have an anterior placenta which means it blocks a lot of the movement as well as the doppler. I did pull out my doppler at home the other night "just to see". Sarah was nice enough to move to one area so I could hear her heartbeat briefly. So at least she's still kicking inside - I just can't feel it :)

Stephen's busy researching on funerals and stuff. Because we will be giving birth in MD and burying her in PA - there are some things that have to be in order. I'm leaving that to him. As he pointed out to me, he can't carry her, he can't give birth to her, but he will do what he can for her. Right now this is all he can do. So I'm letting him run with it.

I'm excited though, because Emily is going to her first birthday party next weekend. Our next door neighbor's asked if she could go and I asked Stephen if it was for their granddaughter or someone else she knew. Turns out it is for her - which will be fun. Now I just have to try and purchase a gift sometime here. They told us we didn't have to - but I'm not about to let Emily go to her first birthday party without a gift. Besides Taylor is her best friend.

This leaves Stephen and I to actually go take in a movie next weekend. That is if I don't have to work..lol.

OK. Now on for the appointments:

Em - Cardiologist Appt February 6th (Happy Bday Jon!)

Erin - U/S Periantologist February 13th

Em - Spine Appt February 16th (I actually get to go because it's a federal holiday)

Em was supposed to have her yearly eye appointment last week - but because of the weather - that had to be cancelled. So we'll be rescheduling that.

That's us in a nutshell for now.

January 23, 2009 - update on what's been going on

2009-01-23T05:00:00.001-05:00

This past weekend has been just awful. I had the quad screening done on my pregnancy and it came back with a positive for Trisomy 18. We didn't want to worry people - so we waited until we had more information. So here's the story:

Friday morning we went in for our level II ultrasound. The baby didn't cooperate too much in allowing them to get a good look at everything. But they did see a couple of markers that with the quad screen results - wanted me to do the amnio to verify. So we went ahead with the amnio. Stephen had to take Emily out of the room for it - so again I was by myself like with Emily's. Didn't go too bad. But because I'm a negative blood type - I then had to go to the hospital to get the blood drawn for the rhogam shot. Had to be back in 3 hours to pick it up.

So we went to our friends house where we were going to stay the night and waiting for a little bit. We left Emily there so she didn't have to wait with us in the hospital again. She had a lot of fun with their grandson who is only a few months younger than her. Stephen dropped me off and I ended up waiting for almost an hour to get it injected in me.

Then we headed back to the house where I was "relaxing" watching the kids play while Stephen went to pick up the ingredients for the pizza were were going to make.

When he got back from the stoe, I made 4 different types of pizzas. Let me tell you they went FAST! Everyone just loved it.

We then had a relaxing evening and morning before we headed home. Em and I then took a nap while Stephen ran errands.

We got up and I started the pizza process again for us while Emily headed over to our neighbors to play with their granddaughter. When she came back - she didn't really eat anything which I thought was weird. We we soon found out why.

Em had caught the flu. With me and my stomach with the pregnancy, I was doing the running for things and sticking things in the washer while Stephen attended Emily. I don't think anything she ate all day actually digested - poor thing.

I finally went to bed and gave Stephen a respite around 4am. By then she was sleeping a little between bouts. Around 6am I started slowly incrementing pedialite in small doses for about an hour in 5-10 increments. Because I did it that way, she seemed to keep it down better. She was hungry/thirsty and wanted to drink more, but I wouldn't let her, because I was pretty sure she'd end up vomiting more.

After a couple of hours I tested her with a little cream of wheat cereal and let her drink a little more pedialite and water.

Around 8am Stephen came down to get some water and told me - he had what she did. So much for me "taking it easy" after the amnio. Stephen ended up sleeping about 15 hours. When he finally made it downstairs, then I finally headed back upstairs to get some sleep.

By morning he was feeling better and so was Emily, although neither was at their tip-top best. I thought I had "passed" the wave - but mid-morning, it hit me too. So I was down for all of Monday. I tried to keep away from Emily & Stephen because all we needed was for us to do this all over again. Because we all were this way, I had Stephen cancel the appointment with Shriners for Emily because none of us should be going around not being over the flu.

By Tuesday, Em was now having another complication - on the other end. She was raw - poor baby. She also had been running a slight fever on Monday - so she slept most of the day (as did I) on Tuesday. That's when we got the news about the initial results of the amnio.

The baby did have Trisomy 18. They then asked if we wanted to know the sex of the baby - we said yes. It's a girl. If it weren't so sad - it'd actually be funny. When we fight over a boy's name, but have a girl's name ready - it's a girl. We came up with Emily's name almost immediately but kept going back and forth with the boy's name. Our brief discussion earlier with this pregnancy we again had come up with a girl's name but were still not agreeing on a boy's. So we have named her Sarah Katherine.

For those interested in what exactly Trisomy 18 is - you can go to this website: http://www.trisomy18.org/site/PageServer

In basic terms, an extra chromosome (the 18th) was given to the child. This causes all sorts of health issues. In most cases, the baby does not survive either birth or after. There are a few instances that they do, but they don't usually have what we deem a full adult life.

In Sarah's case she had 2 markers (that they could see) on the ultrasound we had. Heart and Brain.

If the cyst in the brain just happens to go away as she grows - there would still be the heart issue. Even if we fixed the heart issue all we would really be doing is prolonging her death.

So Stephen and I are letting this all be in God's hands. We are not terminating early. We're going to see how this all plays out.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

2009-01-13T12:18:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't written in awhile. My parents came out for Christmas and had a blast with Emily and she with them.

Not long after that I got sick with morning sickness - except it was all day long. Nothing I did seem to take care of it. The OB doctor kept telling me I "caught" something and wouldn't give me anything for it. I truly was incapacitated. My ginger tablets didn't touch it. Eating or not eating didn't help. I started dry heaving. So January 2nd I made an appointment with my regular doctor who gave me anti-nausea pills. I was going to wait to take them for work - but one day was particularly bad, so I took one. It was the first time I felt more like myself in over a week.

Little did I know there was a side effect. Constipation. So I stopped taking them and had Stephen ask the pharmacist what to take for that. So now I have that med to take when needed - meaning anytime I take the nausea medicine.

Last week was very busy. We were trying to get the materials ready for the classes I'm teaching this week and the copier/printer gave out. So there were some late nights trying to get things printed for the class.

This week is all about training. We have 4 full days of training and Friday 2 virtual classes.

Friday is also when I get my in-depth ultrasound. Hopefully munchkin will cooperate and we'll find out if it's a boy or a girl.

We'll then spend the night at some friends - we owe them pizza for putting us up with Emily's surgery.

Monday is a holiday (YEA!) and Tuesday is Emily's appointment at shriners. Since Tuesday in the DC area is also a holiday due to the inaugural celebration - I'll actually be able to go and ask a lot of questions and hopefully get some answers. Plus hopefully we'll be discussing her spine surgery and when it might actually happen.

So that's us in a nutshell right now.

Dec 30, 2008

2008-12-31T07:25:00.002-05:00

Well had my OB appt yesterday. I'm now officially 15 weeks. I know I posted earlier that I was diagnosed with placenta previa and that I thought the baby had moved up and I was finally able to hear the HB on our Doppler. Well, not long after that I couldn't hear it at all.

So, I didn't get to play it for my parents during the holidays while they were here and even though I felt movement earlier (flutters here and there) I stopped feeling those too.

Then on top of things, my back started hurting and I am now nauseous whether I eat or not. I've tried bland things and ginger tablets. I thought getting to 2nd trimester was supposed to be easier - not harder.

So I go in, I figured my belly popped and I've gained more weight and that's why my back "went out". I get on the scale and I've lost 2 lbs since the last appointment.

Instead of seeing the Nurse Practitioner (that I like) I get the doctor I'm not so sure about. He asks me questions on how I'm feeling. I tell him I'm nauseous regardless if I eat or not and I'm close to vomiting. He tells me it's not the pregnancy - it's something else. Kept asking me if someone in the family was sick. Then I told him I had a headache - told me to go into a quiet dark room after taking some Tylenol and let DH take care of my daughter.

So then I get talked into the quad screening by him and Stephen. I was going to skip all those and just go for the amnio - but they say no.. it'll be easier to do this one. Yet, if this comes back wrong I may have to get the amnio anyway. Geez.. Then I was trying to speak to him about my 20 week u/s. I live in PA, but my insurance doesn't cover a lot of facilities in PA - in MD, DC and/or VA. When I spoke to the NP, she told me because of being "high risk" she wanted to send me to a special facility in PA. When I told her about the insurance, she told me there was a sister facility near where I work. I really had hoped to get this set up - because I have a feeling I won't get in around 20 weeks - it'll be later because we didn't set it up in advance. The Dr. wouldn't discuss it until the next time we meet (aka 4 weeks - which will make me 19 weeks along)

Then he pulls out the Doppler and sort of lets Emily help hold the speaker part. But even he can't find the heartbeat. So they bring in the old u/s. There was the baby and he specifically went looking for the heart and there it was beating away. Baby must have been sleeping - because barely moved while it was on the u/s.

Then I asked if the placenta had moved up and was blocking – with Emily I had that - he told me no, there was a lot of "padding" and that was blocking the Doppler. Gee call me fat why don't ya.

So now I have to go get bloodwork in the next couple of weeks - luckily I found a place that is open on Saturdays - so I shouldn't have to take off any time from work. But I have to do it between 16 - 18 weeks 6 days.

So I'm relieved the baby's alright - but I'm still nauseous with no help there and my back still hurts and I'm trying to get some work done before all these classes start in 2 weeks.

Wish me luck!

December 20, 2008

2008-12-20T08:29:00.003-05:00

Sorry about not posting much lately - it seems work has me very busy. When I'm not training I'm busy helping answer phones or do forms for the help desk.

We had a scare last week. I had given Em a bath and apparently with lifting her in and out of the tub I pulled something and started bleeding. So, we were able to get in to the OB's office who checked me out. The baby was still too low in my pelvis to hear the heartbeat on the doppler.

So they sent me to the hospital to get a good u/s and to see if the baby was alright as well as the cause of the bleeding. The tech there was really nice. They have a new machine that has a flat panel screen so she kept trying to show me and read it. I finally told her to do what she needed to do and then when she was done she could let me see.

It was funny when she stopped moving the wand - the baby was moving and grooving. Heart rate was 154. She was even nice and went to get Stephen and Emily so they could see. Emily apparently had a melt down in the waiting room after I left. So she showed them and when we pointed the baby out to Em on the screen the baby "looked" like it waved to her.

So as you can tell baby was fine. She brought in another tech for a consult. Apparently I have what's called placenta previa. The placenta is currently over the cervix. This is what is causing the bleeding. In most cases this resolves itself by moving up the uterus wall as the baby grows. If it doesn't it means that I may be on bedrest at some point as well as getting a c-section.

So it wasn't enough being "high risk" for my age, high blood-pressure, and Emily's issues that I had to add one more.

They don't seem too worried about it at this point. I'll just be checked off and on to see if it's moving.

My next appointment is Dec 30th. That appointment we'll be talking about the screenings. I'll be 15 weeks by then. I'm already leaning toward having another amnio done just to be on the safe side. Hopefully we'll actually get in around 20 weeks rather than 26 weeks this time for the u/s.

I have one more day at work and then I'm off for the rest of the week. President Bush was nice enough to declare Dec 26th a holiday as well - so technically I'm only using 2 days of leave.

My parents are coming out to celebrate Christmas with us. So we're in cleaning mode this weekend. Although I'm trying to take it a little easier than normal. I also hope to have our family christmas picture taken so I can send out cards - yes they'll be late.

I've been having some "cramping" and some pain off to my left and so last night I tried using the doppler to see if I could hear munchkin's heartbeat. Apparently the cramping I've been feeling is the uterus expanding up. The pain on the left I feel is munchkin sitting on that side. I found the heartbeat. It was on that left side. So I'm feeling much better about the bleeding knowing munchkin's moving and grooving still.

That's us for now....

Em and Santa 2008

2008-12-07T18:40:00.002-05:00

Emily says Happy Holidays

2008-12-07T18:38:00.001-05:00

Em's ABCs

2008-11-29T15:22:00.001-05:00

November 26, 2008 - First Official OB appointment

2008-11-26T18:07:00.002-05:00

I went in about 3 weeks ago because of spotting and slight cramping. So technically this was the "first" your really pregnant appointment.

This is the first time with this OB office. I've been spotting off an on for 3 weeks - no explaination for it - but it's all brown so they don't seem to worried. They did the normal stuff and because I've got high blood pressure I now have to do the 24 hour urine capture. I can't really do it at work - so I'm going to try and do it this weekend.

Because of the spotting - this office has an "older" u/s machine and was nice enough to do it so we can see we do truly have a bean and the heart was beating. Stephen and Em were with me and all she kept saying was I'm going to be a big sisser (sister).

So even though we didn't get a number on the heartbeat nor did we hear it - we definitely got to see the little on and I seem to be on track.

My next appointment is Dec 30th.

Emily is doing great - lots of energy - we went and got her hair cut and then shopping for Christmas. Needless to say I picked up a few things for her but I was able to hide them away when we got home.

November 18, 2008

2008-11-18T17:27:00.002-05:00

Well Emily got home on November 9th. We had 2 more days with her before I had to go back to work. Of course with it being a short week and me traveling this week - I ended up working late.

I flew out on Sunday to New Orleans and then drove to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. Nice drive - nice place. I was actually training at the Stennis Space Center. Reminded me of a big FLETC.

I'm now sitting in the NO Airport waiting on my flight to LA. It's not supposed to leave until 7:30. My class ended early and I stayed at the center working until I got kicked out of the room. So I decided to go and wait here at the airport - making sure I don't miss the flight. My class starts tomorrow at 8:30.

Emily had her 1 week post-op appointment. Apparently everything is looking good. She still had a little fluid around her lungs - so they are keeping her on the lasix - although going from twice a day to once. They took all the steri-strips off and were very pleased with her progress. I didn't get to talk much to Stephen because when I called he was on the road.

I'm looking forward getting back to LA to see how it has all changed. I have plans on meeting up with some old co-workers at least one of the nights I'm there.

Then hopefully I'll be done traveling until after the new year! We still have a lot of training to do - but traveling should be off the table for awhile. Hopefully by then we'll be able to have Jon do some trips as well.

That's it for now...

November 9, 2008

2008-11-09T10:11:00.002-05:00

Well Emily is doing really good. They took out the pacing wires and now we're just waiting until 1 pm so we can go home. I think we'll all be happy to go home.

Em slept most of yesterday - so she was wide awake at 10pm. We took her for a walk to the playroom. She stayed there almost an hour. She was coloring, playing the toy keyboard, playing with the kitchen , etc. We then took the long way back which took us past the PT room. She saw the stairs and went right up and down them no problem. Of course there were only like 4 steps - but still a good job all around.

Stephen and I took turns sleeping in the chair vs the couch. Em was up around 3 am for a bit so we put in a movie for her. Around 4:30 - we all fell asleep. Got woken up at 6 for the Chest Xray. I can't be in the room when they do it - so I didn't get a chance to move Em.

The results on everything came back really well. They all want her to stay because she's really good about everything and polite to boot - but we're ready to head home.

Well that's it for now...

November 7th

2008-11-07T19:49:00.002-05:00

Em was moved around noon to her own room. We are slowly weaning her off the oxygen. She went for a walk and then pretty much crashed. Apparently it was busy in the ICU last night and she didn't get much sleep. Around 6 we got her up and had some food. I then promised if she went for another walk I would play Pooh movie for her. She stood for 10 minutes while they tried to get her hooked up. So we got her back in bed (which for me is interesting as we're not allowed to pick her up under the arms) but we managed.

The good news is they're taking about if her progress continues that she may go home Sunday afternoon/evening. Physical Therapy is coming back tomorrow to work with us - since this is the first time doing things for Em - as a baby it wasn't as bad - since she slept and didn't walk or anything. Em however, with as much as she falls - we need to watch her a bit more, because we don't need to be back in the hospital because she re-injured her sternum/breastbone.

We sent Daddy off to go get some sleep tonight. Since I got to go sleep last night - I thought it would be better if he got to go tonight.

We'll keep you posted on how it goes.

November 6th - evening

2008-11-06T21:19:00.003-05:00

I didn't get much of a chance to update today. As of this evening she is fabulous - a bit still in pain but they've removed her breathing tube this morning and this evening more tubes came out. The only things still in her are the chest tubes (which come out tomorrow) and her pacer cables (they won't come out until she's due to come home). Great news is they are planning on moving her to the main floor and out of ICU tomorrow! 1 1/2 days from surgery. If she keeps this up we may get home by the end of the weekend!

She's definitely not moaning and started talking and has started eating so everyone's really happy about her progress.

Here is a picture (sorry for the poor quality took it with no flash) from this morning - she was still a little groggy.

November 6, 2008 - Morning

2008-11-06T08:46:00.001-05:00

We got here around 7 and found out that they had just 15 minutes prior had removed the breathing tube. She looks really good and one of the first things she said was that she wanted water. Of course she can't have it just yet.

They still have her on morphine to help with the pain, but she's supposed to go on oral meds a little later today. We've already rolled her around a little because she has a little congestion and the resp. person was trying to get her to cough. One side sounds much better and the other side we're still working.

Well that's it for now.. Need to run back so Stephen can get something to eat!

Will keep you all posted.

Nov 5, 2008 - late

2008-11-05T21:40:00.002-05:00

Surgery went well. Doctor is pleased with how it went. Em's groin arteries have gone away - which is normal for babies that have had cath procedures - so they had to make her incision a little higher in order to put her on the bypass machine. Good news is that they were able to put a bigger conduit in this time and they're hopeful that it could last 10 years. So that would be one less surgery for her.

She looked really good when we saw her - they were talking about possibly taking out the breathing tube tonight. Stephen and I are sleeping at our friends tonight and will be back at the hospital bright and early tomorrow. So off to bed!

November 5, 2008 Late Afternoon

2008-11-05T16:15:00.003-05:00

Well, this is the first opportunity that I've been able to get away to let everyone know what's going on. First off, we got here around 7 and around 8 they took us in the back area. We unfortunately at that point were told we were bumped until 1:15. It was supposed to be 11. So they were nice and found some juice and jello to give her to tide her over.

She actually didn't go back until 1:45. We got the message that they did the first incision at 3:07 - so we're still waiting. She probably won't be back up to ICU until after 7 tonight.

Ran into the PA in the hall - she said it sounded like Em got bumped by another baby. We totally understand that feeling because at one point Em was that baby.

She was really good waiting too. Charmed everyone on the floor. The Charge Nurse and she had a really good time blowing bubbles. She got a new doggie toy from the nurse and because she sat and had a conversation with one of the receiptionists got a magenta bear. It was too funny.

In the morning I'll try and come down to the library and post more - unless we go back to our friends to sleep tonight. We may do that - just because of the lack of sleep last night.

Talk with you later one way or another...

November 5, 2008 Early Morning

2008-11-05T05:01:00.002-05:00

Well, it took forever to get Em to sleep last night. She finally fell asleep on the bed - and Stephen (poor thing) slept on the floor. Even then she didn't stay asleep more than 2 hours at a time. She kept waking up and yelling Mom and crashing over on me. Needless to say - I don't think any of us slept very well.

They asked us to "wipe her down" with special cloths last night and I almost forgot to do it. It seems as soon as I did that she settled down.

She's our sensitive kid. I'm trying hard not to project worry for her - I figure I can do that after she's gone in. But I think she's picking up how serious this is or is picking it up from Stephen :) Either way she's a little more clingy than normal.

I think the hardest part is going to have to wait until 11 and not give her any food/water. In fact I need to go and give her a little more as that will be it for awhile.

I didn't go into specifics on yesterday's post - a little hard with a clingy 2 year old hanging on you. We had to go there for an EKG, measurements, meet with the anethesiologist (sp) - you'd think by now I'd have that spelling down - surgeon, blood work and chest xray. Stephen took her in for the blood. She came out crying. Stephen took her in for the xray - they strapped her in a seat with her hands tied up. Not a happy camper.

November 4, 2008

2008-11-04T19:43:00.004-05:00

Well we spent the afternoon yesterday at my OB. I started spotting and had the appt anyway - so we got it checked out. They normally don't see anyone until 10 weeks or so - but due to my high blood pressure and age - I'm now "high" risk. Well no idea about the spotting - other than it's happen and it was old - so I ended up getting a Rhogam shot. So made for a very long afternoon - considering our schedule the rest of the week.

We spent all day (7-3) at the hospital getting everything in place for Em's surgery tomorrow. It appears that if things go correctly - she'll be in the CICU for 3-4 days and then on the floor 3-4 days. She's scheduled to go tomorrow for surgery at 11 am. The good news is that it appears she's grown quite a bit and may lessen the number of times they'll have to do this operation. They said they thought the one they put in tomorrow will last her for 10 years. We were really happy to hear that news. Now because of the parking situation - we'll be there a lot earlier than is necessary for her surgery - but we need to make sure we have decent parking since we'll be there for awhile.

We're spending tonight with some friends of the family so we don't have the 3 hr drive from home to the hospital. They've opened their house to us for the time Emily will be in the hospital. It's nice to have a place with a bed should we need it. I see one of us staying at the hospital once she moves out of the CICU.

Oct 27, 2008

2008-10-27T18:51:00.002-05:00

Well, we were going to try and wait to spread the news, but the news has been slowly leaking out. We are expecting another baby. It's estimated due date is June 25, 2009. As soon as I found out - I told my boss - to let her know I wouldn't be working the hours I have been. She's been great about it. I went on travel last week to Woods Hole, MA (cape cod). It was windy and cold - but it was a nice trip and I traveled with a coworker that knew about the pregnancy and she was very helpful with my bags making sure I didn't overdue.

Our first OB appt is next Monday. I'm considered "high risk" because of my age, blood pressure and Em's issues. So I'll be interested to see if I get an ultrasound next week or not.

Em's surgery was postponed from Nov 4th to the 5th. We'll keep everyone posted how it goes.

That's all for now... we'll keep you posted on everything!

October 15, 2008

2008-10-15T05:36:00.003-05:00

Well, today was supposed to be the day the software that I've been training for was supposed to go live - it's not. It's been postponed for another month. Which means I'm still training. Not only am I training - but they've also got the new guy from the Help Desk also training while I'm training. So right now this week I'm down in Norfolk doing training and next week will be in Woods Hole, MA.

Stephen and Emily took a ride down to NC to visit his sister Joan. Sharon is supposed to meet up there as well. Sharon is taking Stephen's cat IBKA back down to Florida to be with his Dad.

I'll be glad when this traveling is over. But right now I have to run and get ready for training today. Everyone have a great day!

August 21, 2008

2008-08-21T22:29:00.006-05:00

Here I am writing from my hotel room in Hawaii. I arrived on Sunday afternoon and have been training since Tuesday. I've been very lucky in the traveling companion I am with Faranak - she's one of the people from our help desk who has been getting me out and about at night - so I don't sit in my room working all the time.

So far we've seen almost everything. We've gone shopping and I've managed to help her get some good bargains on things.

I wasn't looking forward to this trip initially - long flight, hot/humid weather, etc. But Faranak has made this trip really fun. We managed to drive almost completely around the island. We got away from the Honolulu/Waikiki area (urban setting) and saw the "true" island. We stopped at one of their parks on the north eastern side and got our feet wet in the ocean. I was amazed at how warm the water was. No wonder people surf here :)

We just kept taking different roads seeing where it led us - stopped by some local stores to check out things - that part was a lot of fun. We drove up and through a mountain and then managed to drive along the coast - which made the Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in LA look like it was miles away from the coast. Part of the road went right up to the ocean. The scenery was breath taking. We then took another road that led us through farm lands. We think it was the Dole Plantation fields.

We've also been checking out different shopping venues. Picking up gifts for our family and co-workers. And for a change - me not working all nights :) I do have some things to do, but I will get them done eventually.

Saturday we're planning on going to the Arizona Memorial, a swap meet at the Honolulu Stadium and then a luau (sp?). We're really looking forward to that. Then Faranak will go back to the east coast and I head to the west coast to Seattle to do the next set of training.

The first class we had was a really fun crowd. This second class - well, for the moment - only time will tell.

Here are some of the pictures I've taken so far:

View from my hotel room:

On one of our excursions - island in the ocean taken from the northeastern part of the island:

August 10, 2008

2008-08-10T14:31:00.003-05:00

Sorry for not posting since Emily's procedure, my work has been very busy and will continue to do so until October (at least!).

I've been working 12-14 hours a day, commuting 2-3 hours and working weekends - trying to get all of my training materials ready for my classes, which started last week. Even with a system that still isn't completely "ready" - I'm getting positive feedback from the students on my materials. The real test will come this week when I do a full hands-on training, rather than presentation/demonstrations.

During this time other things have been happening. My father had a procedure done and found out he has bladder cancer. Luckily it's just in the lining and appears from what he's told me and what I've been reading on the web it's stage 0. The doctor is going to treat it with localized chemo for 6 weeks and then do another look. If he still sees things, then they're going to try a biological approach using live bacteria for another 6 weeks.

Friday, my aunt (father's sister) passed away. I'm sad in that due to my training schedule I won't be able to make it to the funeral and I really wanted to pay my last respects.

Saturday I ended up at the doctors because I have a bladder infection. I thought I had one starting last week - but the symptoms disappeared and I thought I managed not to get it. No so it appears. But now I'm on antibiotics and a good thing too becuase next Sunday I'll be flying to Hawaii. I'm not looking forward to that 12 hr flight or the heat & humidity that's sure to be there. I will be glad when the traveling is over though. After Hawaii - I'll be flying to Seattle. Home a week before I fly to Boulder & Kansas City in the same week.

Em hasn't wanted to leave my side all weekend. That's probably due to the fact I haven't been getting home until 9 pm or so all week. This is the first weekend I've had off in awhile and even so - I did some work today from home.

If I get a chace, I'll take some pictures of Emily and get them uploaded - because we'll be cutting her hair sometime this week to take some weight off.

Well I suppose I should go start laundry and making the pizza dough.

Hope all is well with everyone.

July 16, 2008 - 3:30pm

2008-07-16T14:33:00.002-05:00

Em's procedure is completed. It went well. They were able to open the majority of the stent a little more. The doctor said the pressure in her heart was a little better than it has been, but it still isn't great. He told us he thinks he's bought us 2-4 months before the conduit will need to be replaced. He really thinks that she's finally outgrowing it. One thing he said, that confused me is that one of the holes that I thought the closed was still open. I couldn't remember if this was one they actually closed or what is "normal" and closes on it's own after they're born. Either way, we still have a hole and they were able to utilize it during the cath procedure.

The new hospital wing is nice. We now have private rooms with a private bath. The elevator banks to get here remind me of Vegas. Bright and sparkly.

They had to give Em some narcotics for the pain and a "soother" after she woke up in recovery. She wanted to get up and me to hold her and just my guess - but to get her out of there. She's now sleeping and Stephen is too. Me, I'm using the internet in the room with the bad keyboard to check work email. So please forgive any spelling errors here. I tend to type a lot faster than the keyboard can communicate to the screen. Plus they have this plastic thing over it.

With all luck, they'll do rounds around 9 AM and hopefully we'll be out of here by noon. Stephen and Emily will go home and I'll go to work. We have a conference call set up tomorrow afternoon.

July 16, 2008 - 10 AM

2008-07-16T09:08:00.003-05:00

Well, sorry for the lack of blogs lately. I've been working 12 hr days and weekends and barely have time to think let alone blog.

Em was preadmitted yesterday to get her hydrated and filled up with the meds that will help flush her kidney. She was to be the first patient, (7:30 or so) but they didn't actually take her in until 9. She got the meds to put her out through the IV and went down well. They're supposed to update us around 10:30.

She will after the procedure be kept overnight. This is a standard practice due to all of the anomolies she has.

The cath doctor explained what they were trying to do. Basically the stent when initially placed was set at 9mm. It apparently can go to 12mm. So they're going to try and open it a bit more to give us more time with this conduit. Let's hope it all goes well. We did find out that the normal arteries they usually go through they can't use because they basically shriveled up. This was the first we've heard about that. I asked how did that happen and he said it's very common on kids who have had cath/surgeries as babies. So they're trying an alternative.

I'll update when I have more news.

June 25, 2008

2008-06-25T15:31:00.001-05:00

We finally have a date for her cath procedure - July 16th. Pray that it goes well and gives us more time before we have to do the conduit replacement.

Em apparently has caught a cold. We think she may have gotten it from the other little girl at church. She had a runny nose and by 8 last night was running a fever. Let's pray this gets over soon. Of course it has to have happened after JoAnn leaves.

Em barely wanted to eat and of course she wanted to share everything of mine - which I couldn't do since I NEED to stay well. She fell asleep around 6:30 on the couch and then woke up when I tried to get her to bed. I dosed her with Tylenol and put some vicks on her. I ran around trying to find the "children's" vicks I bought awhile ago - but couldn't find it. So I put just a little of the regular on her. I'm hoping this helped her sleep better.

As far as work - still on going. I finally got my boss to sit down to go over the schedule. I THINK we're finally at a consensus of what training, when and where. Now to just get it approved.

Now my only problem is I'm teaching not only a "new user" 2 day class (hands on) and a 4 hr overview (non-hands on), but now we've added a 2hr Routing Administration and 2hr Approving Official Overviews. Luckily both of these will not be hands on, so should mainly be PowerPoint/discussion.

My only wish now is that I'd love to start really working on the documentation that is needed but they're still "tweaking" the system. It seems every time I get a chance to work on something - something within my document then has to be changed because they make a "tweak" to the system. I hate doing double work. Luckily so far, it's only been minor things.

June 17, 2008

2008-06-17T14:45:00.001-05:00

Still no word on when the procedure will be. I've sent an email to the cardiologist - but so far no response.

We got 1/2 day off yesterday. There was a water main break in the county and so they couldn't guarantee there would be water or pressure for the water in case of fire - so it was considered a safety issue to have people in the building. So they sent us all home.

I went home and got Emily to sleep and then worked on upgrading my MS Office from 2003 to 2007. My friend had sent back the laptop that the hard drive crashed and so I was getting that up and running as well.

As nice as that was being off - I really needed to get work done. I put together things in case I decided to work on it at home, of course I didn't. By the time I was done with the computers - Emily was up. Found out this morning that I also didn't put the papers in my bag to take home. Plus now my boss is rethinking some of the class dates.

Emily has been out of sorts lately. I'm attributing it to her teeth. Well partly that and partly the "TWOs” Everything is DRAMA lately. If you say no, she screams at you in the highest pitch voice. If you get mad at her it's immediate tears. Of course she wants to be in everything she shouldn't.

I'm still a bit worried about her language not progressing as quickly as I think it should. I think part of the problem is - I do not understand her. Guess I'll have to sit and work with her on me saying a word and then her repeating so I can get the gist of what she's saying. For example last night she wanted a drink and kept saying her version of drink but I didn't get it until I said drink and she repeated it. Then I realized she had said drink all along.

June 12, 2008

2008-06-12T10:42:00.002-05:00

Last night was so funny. Emily was sitting on the treadmill playing with her Fridge DJ (toy) which just happened to be on the Exersaucer. She likes to play songs. Well she happened to be listing to the musical version of Old MacDonald had a farm. At the part where it goes EIEIO - I sang that to her once. From that moment on, all she wanted to do is play that song and sing the EIEIO as well as try and "sign" it with her hands. Because the song does like 3 animals verses in it, she knew when to wait and when to sing. It was really cute. I'll have to see if she does it tonight and grab the video camera.

I sent a message off yesterday to our cardiologist, because we hadn't heard anything. Work wants to know when Em's procedure/surgery is so they can plan around it. Unfortunately I was in meetings all afternoon and went home tired, so I didn't get on the computer until this morning.

Apparently, they've met with the cath doctors and they think there is a chance the cath procedure will work. She was going to check in why we haven't heard anything. However, I had to send a message back to her this morning asking more questions as to what if we schedule this and it doesn't work - then what. If it does work, how long does she think it might give us? The last thing I need is for us to the do the procedure and then turn around and have to do the surgery right in the middle of my training. Work understands, however, I don't want to let anyone down.

So, now just waiting for answers again...

June 8, 2008

2008-06-08T18:47:00.003-05:00

We went to see the cardiologist on Friday. We did about 10 minutes of what if... with the heart and back. Then she decided to just look at the heart - not worry about her back. So we went to get an echo done. The tech took one look at Em and pulled out a Veggie Tales video for her to watch. I told the tech she couldn't have picked a better one for her - as it's her favorite and she will sit very still to watch it. So the tech got good pictures of the heart. The doctor came back and said her pressure had gone up a little more this time. So she felt like there were two options - the first is to check with the Cath doctors and find out whether or not they felt it would be worthwhile to try and ballon the stent. If they say no - then our only option is the conduit replacement.

She wants to get this finalized fairly soon. So Monday she should be talking with the Cath doctors and from there we'll know which road we're going and when it will happen. Right now for me work wise - earlier is much better. My time is going to get stressed come late July through September.

The good news is the conduit replacement will not be as intensive as the first one was and my guess is won't take "as long". At least not as long as the first surgery took - because this time they won't have to close up holes along with it.

This weekend has been extremely HOT. It's been in the 90's with heat indexes in the 100. Plus a TON of humidity. I'm so glad Stephen got the airconditioner in. I picked up the room enough and brought Emily's mattress in - her bed frame was still in our room. She's been sleeping with us and will until the heat breaks.

Stephen and I went to see the Kung Fu Panda - not really my choice of a movie - however it was at the local theater for a cheap price. It actually was kind of cute. Better than I anticipated.

I threw my back out again. So yesterday and today it's been kind of tough doing much. However, I managed to take some cute pictures of Em today. Here are a couple:

May 29, 2008

2008-05-29T14:57:00.001-05:00

Well, over the weekend, I decided to slowly get back to "regular" healthier food. With Emily's surgery (ies) coming up, I need to save up for that since my policy has changed this year. So basically hospital stays will be more expensive than they were a few years ago.

I gained a few pounds in the transition, but nothing with time and adjustment can't come back off. It just probably won't come off as quickly as it had been. But that's ok. I wanted to lose some quickly in order to get my blood pressure down and knew I would eventually get into eating healthier.

Like this weekend. We decided to make pizza but try a whole wheat crust. We used the food processor JoAnn got Stephen for Christmas and it turned out really well. The only problem I saw was cooking it as long as I did. I followed the directions - but next time I'll probably not do it as long. Stephen had broccoli, cauliflower, red peppers, mushrooms and onions. Emily and I had onions, turkey pepperoni and low fat/no fat cheeses. I can't wait to try and do a low fat Hawaiian pizza. I also found a recipe for a flaxseed meal crust I want to try.

With this healthier eating I'm getting to eat fruit again. Stephen found pink ladies (apples) and I have to say I like them even more than I do the red delicious ones. I hadn't had bananas for awhile either and they taste really good. Plus their fairly easy to eat while commuting.

Speaking of commuting - the past few days have been AWFUL. There were so many accidents yesterday morning and afternoon. It took me 2 hours to get to work (and that's even leaving 15 minutes earlier than normal) and 2 hours to get home (and that's leaving an hour later than normal) Emily was very happy to see me when I got home - however, it was short lived in that I went to bed not long after. She's used to having me home no later than 6 usually so she gets 2 hrs with me. Last night she barely got 1.

I don't know if I've mentioned this or not - but last weekend when we were out and about going to yard sales, we went by one (not on our list) and I found a glider chair and ottoman for $50. Also at the same place we found another dresser for $10. So now we all have dressers. Stephen jokes that I use up all the closet space that's why I was the last in getting a dresser.

Work is very busy. My boss was out the past two weeks in training. So last week I got tagged to get something entered for her. She was supposed to be in on Tuesday - but she's now sick. So I got tagged again to try and finish the project. Yesterday I also got tagged in attending a meeting and trying to discuss the training for the new software. It looks like we're not trying for the July date anymore - we're going to try for August. This is all based on us getting the hardware. I'm still trudging forward. I have an instance up where I can document and create the e-learning/documentation and training materials. So my goal is still to have at least the e-learning up by late June/early July. If my boss is still out the rest of the week, I have to go to a meeting tomorrow to explain why we're postponing the July date with the "Big Big Boss". So much for casual Friday.

Breakfast at Emily's

2008-05-24T11:37:00.001-05:00

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

6 weeks 26.8 lbs

2008-05-21T19:51:00.001-05:00

May 21, 2008

2008-05-21T06:39:00.001-05:00

Emily had her appointment yesterday at Shriners. Her curve is now approximately 83 degrees and they want to do the VEPTR surgery. However, we have our cardiac appointment in the beginning of June so we'll see what her heart is like and what they think - should the conduit be replaced first, or could they do the surgery and the conduit would be fine for a later replacement. I've already given a heads up to the cardiologist, so hopefully we can discuss options at the next appointment.

On top of that, in April we had a CT Scan done. Stephen ran down and got the disc to send to Shriners. While we were on vacation, we got a voicemail stating that it was missing the lower portion of the spine. So since I've been back, I've been trying to find out what the heck is going on. Who did the order? Did it say to do the whole spine? Was there a problem with their computer?

I finally contacted the cardiologist - whom we were initially going through, she said she had written the order just the way Shriner's wanted it. The Ortho's PA down there called me last night to say - yes, the order did call for a whole spine but for what ever reason it didn't happen. The tech that did it wasn't in, so they're still trying to find out why it wasn't done.

But at least we know - it wasn't and now we have to determine if/when/where to do another. This probably wouldn't be as bad if she were a little older - but she has to be sedated through anesthesia. Because of that and know she could have up to 2 surgeries this year and with only a partial working kidney, we have to make sure everything is timed just so.

It also sounds like Dr. Betz won't be the one doing the actual surgery - however, my guess is he'll be in the OR when it happens guiding. The other question is where will she have the surgery? St. Christopher's or CHOP? I guess we'll get to those questions eventually.

I kind of knew that we'd be doing one surgery this year, but I was really hoping it was going to be the heart. Give her time to recuperate and then do the spine the next. Oh, well, time will tell how this will all play out.

May 19, 2008 - Happy Birthday Stephen!

2008-05-19T11:21:00.000-05:00

Happy 40th Stephen!

Today marks the start of 6 weeks on the program. I'm down 25.2 lbs and total of:

3" from my chest, 5" from my waist and 4.5" from my hips.

Weekends seem to be the hardest for me. At work it's easy to keep track of time and get water down. At home - not so much.

Stephen told me he's now down 15 lbs. He did really good yesterday not eating any cupcakes. (except the MF ones I made)

Karen, Charlie & Jake were very nice. Jake was a ball of energy. I know we say that of Emily - but she's nothing compared to the whirlwind that is Jake. He reminds me a lot of my cousin Eric.

He's very bright, sings his ABCs and counts. Even when you ask him hold old he was he held up 2 fingers and said two. It was funny, everything was "Why?".

I tried not to interfer with their discipline, however, a few times I got him to go to Emily's chair to sit for a minute. It's the teacher in me - I can't seem to stop myself.

Emily seemed to understand that Jake was very hyper - so she mellowed waaaaay down for her. They were sweet together - he kept giving her things to her (eventually piling it on her). But he always made sure she had her water. She was just as nice in giving him some of her toys to play with. Then when she was sitting in the chair and he decided to sit in it too, she pulled her arm out put it on his back and kind of patted.

Because of the company - we actually got some cleaning done. My dining & kitchen table you can actually see again :)

Karen & Charlie were nice enough to be alright with veggies & burgers (rather than chips). Stephen and I tried the new Morning Star cheddar burgers. They were delicious. I then served them and Emily cupcakes I bought. Emily only ate about 1/2. I brought the remaining 2 into work figuring they'd be gone quickly around here. I made my medifast ones again (couldn't find my recipe I had written down) and they ended up tasting really good. Especially when I added Sugar Free Cherry Flavored Syrup into the chocolate pudding and topped the muffin part with it.

Stephen & Emily went tennis shoe shopping today. I had bought some from Walmart/Target - but apparently her feet have grown since then. She now in a size 7 (for growth). I'm going to have to go and find some 7 summer sandals & hopefully canvas shoes before they're all gone for fall ones.

Tomorrow is Emily's spine appointment. I still haven't heard back from the PA from Children's on what the order for the CT Scan was done. It sounded like when I spoke to someone in Radiology that they did what was ordered - not the whole spine. Which I just don't get. Why would you not do the whole spine - especially since there wasn't one done previously.

I don't know what the outcome will be considering Shriner's won't have all the information they need. I'll let you know what they said after the appointment.

May 16, 2008 - Happy Birthday Emily!

2008-05-16T11:42:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday to my now 2 year old!

I'm leaving work early today so I can spend some of her actual birthday with her. My online board decided to do gift exchanges for the birthdays. So we'll open that when I get home and get the camera set up.

She got a few things from my parents when we were in TX and one from us. I have another one for her although it's not wrapped. I'm debating on giving it to her today or Sunday when we have my friends over.

I had taco salad last night and was still wearing my nice cream shirt from work. So I threw a dishtowel over me so as not to spill (and I didn't). Then Emily decided she wanted to take the dishtowel away from me (and throw it on the floor). I told her no, but she kept at it. Well she lost her balance and hit her mouth on the recliner chair edge. Split her top lip. I went to grab her and she nestled on my shoulder and sure enough got blood on my shirt.

When I finally got her to show me her mouth, luckily it didn't do anything else to her teeth. Just the lip this time. Of course we put some cold compress on it (when she'd let us) and she did some cold water and eventually a cold bink. She was so cute though when I showed her the spot on my shirt. She picked up the towel and started trying to clean it.

It apparently is ok this morning. She's eating with no problems.

Hopefully the weather will cooperate this weekend and it'll be a nice one for a change. Right now however, it's raining and cool.

I'm now officially at 100 lbs to lose. I have lost 23 lbs in 4 3/4 weeks. The only thing bad I can say is that I'm having problems with dry skin. Doesn't matter how much water I drink or lotion I put on, my skin is becoming very dry. I guess I'll have to look into some of their Omega 3 meals as well as another supplement of some kind.

May 15, 2008

2008-05-15T11:04:00.000-05:00

Emily had her 2 year appointment today. She is now:

33 inches tall
26.6 lbs
and her head is 49 cm (19.3 inches)

I'm down 22 lbs now. I have 6 more lbs to lose to be where I was when I married Stephen.

I've been doing at least 15 minutes on the treadmill every night. If I get home in time I do 20-30. At first I was only doing 2.0. The other night I did 2.5 for thirty minutes and wasn't even winded! Last night I did 3.0 (speed) for 27 minutes. I actually broke 25 minute mile! I was a bit winded but not as bad as it could have been.

I've decided to do every other night with 30 minutes at 3.0. The other nights I'll do 15 minutes at 2.5 and include some pushups, sit-ups, etc. I need to get some more toning type stuff in.

It's been fairly nice since Wednesday. In the low-mid 70's. However, tomorrow it's supposed to rain and be in the 60's. I think it's funny I went and washed up all of my summer clothes and it decided to be a longer cooler spring.

Now I'm going to have to stick them in the closet until it gets a bit warmer and pull back out the winter/early spring things.

May 14, 2008

2008-05-14T09:47:00.000-05:00

Stephen and Emily got back last night. I think they were both really tired - not that I blame them, considering the distance they drove.

Emily apparently yesterday at one of their stops fell and cut her lip. Well when they got home, I also noticed one of her front teeth is now crooked. She was so excited to be home, but so tired she kept either falling down or shutting her fingers in drawers. Needless to say I made sure she got her dose of Tylenol before bed.

It was a nice trip overall. Although it was a bit hot. I went from almost 90 degree sunny weather to 48 degrees and rain.

My grandfather is doing better. There was, at least to me, a drastic change from the time we got there to when we left. I think Emily's energy level really brings everyone else's up as well - as she's a busy little girl.

She had great fun running around and exploring in their backyard. My father and mother even bought her bubbles which she had fun with.

My aunt a few weeks ago fell and broke her wrist. She owns a flower shop. My mother has been helping her out in the shop. Because it was mother's day weekend - well the shop was very busy. Stephen volunteered to deliver flowers for her on Friday. She was very impressed on how well he did. I'm sure if we lived down there she'd probably use him all the time. But that's my honey - have map will travel :)

Both of my cousins - Jenny & Eric came into town to see us. Emily just loved Jenny (sorry - Dr. Jenny). Jenny had her help walk my grandparent's dog and give her a bath. Plus Jenny gave her an opportunity to play with a calculator and markers/highlighters. Eric & Stephen hit it off. They apparently watch/like the same movies & TV shows.

I manage to still lose a pound even going off the diet a couple of times down there. Of course, by doing that it took me out of the fat burning state and so now I'm basically starting at Day 1 again. It felt good going off and eating healthy choices - gave me a glimpse of what it will be like when I do the transition.

As of today - I'm officially 21 lbs down!

Friday officially marks Emily turning 2. Stephen turns 40 on Monday. I thought about doing the traditional 40 birthday things- but mine is next year and I know if I did something - then he definitely would. If I don't, then hopefully he won't!

I've invited on on-line friend who lives close to us to a BBQ on Sunday. Her boy is the same age as Emily and just had his birthday. This will also give me a chance to get Emily's old 0-9 month clothes to her. She's expecting her daughter in June. It should be a fun afternoon. I even bought bubbles (we still have the wands and stuff from last year) for the kids to play with in the back yard.

Now all I have to do is get the table cleaned off so we have a place to eat.

May 1, 2008

2008-05-01T11:47:00.000-05:00

Happy May Day!

Well Stephen has worked wonders with Radiology at Children's Hospital. He actually got them to create a disc of the CT Scan for us to pick up and send to Shriner's. He was supposed to go down yesterday to pick it up - but their computer was down. So when he called today - the lady told him she thought he sounded like this was very important so she burned the disc as soon as the computer was up this morning. So he and Emily are on their way to go pick it up.

This morning also marks for me the weight I was at when I delivered Emily (262 - actually I'm 262.4). That's 15 lbs gone. My clothes are finally feeling looser and things that I had bought awhile back which haven't fit in awhile are now fitting fine.

I actually got a chance to go walking yesterday at work with a co-worker. It was for me a more "leisurely" walk than I'm used to on the treadmill. But I kept us out walking for thirty minutes. Then I came home and did another 25 minutes of walking on the treadmill.

Work is work. I keep waiting for my new environment for one of the systems. I heard it was created by COB on Tuesday. But the developer was out yesterday and supposedly is in today - but I don't know where he is at the moment. On my old environment - I've been putting in data and just waiting on the last piece that the developers have to get entered and then I'll be able to get last things done and we can baseline it and be ready to go for any training that I can fit in beyond my other training for the new system.

This weekend is going to be geared toward getting Stephen and Emily ready for the trip. I'm trying to write down things I know we'll need down there. Since they're driving - I'm sending my stuff along with them (that I don't need the few days they'll be gone). I'm really looking forward to the trip.

April 28, 2008

2008-04-28T09:55:00.001-05:00

Here I am starting week 3. I'm 12.8 lbs down where I began. My measurements are:

Chest 50.5 (down 1/2 from last time)
Waist 44.5 (down 1/2 from last time)
Hips 55 (down 1 from last time)

All not bad considering I was fighting a bladder infection all week.

Saturday, we went to yard sales. I found a cabinet that I will take the doors off and make a bookshelf for Emily's room. We also found an "old" VTECH computer. We put batteries in it - didn't do anything - however we think we need a cartridge for it to actually run. But Emily loves "typing" on it. Yea for 3 bucks!

Stephen then worked on the cars. Cleaning etc. I worked on getting our Internet running again. I had tried to get our new modem up last Wednesday night - but the lady I got must have been new because she just said there was a problem with my account and someone more "technical" would be in touch 24-72 hrs. We never heard back from anyone. So I called Saturday afternoon and got a more technical person who got it working in 10-15 minutes.

Sunday - well something got into Emily. I went to let her "suck off" the cereal on my finger (oatmeal) and she bit my finger and not a play bite and not just once. So I let Daddy take over for awhile. She eventually went back to her sweet self - so I was able to deal with her.

I fed her lunch and got her to sleep for her nap. Then I started in on cleaning the fridge and doing laundry. By the time I threw out what was bad, what we didn't need anymore, and cleaning not only the fridge but the containers - that took me 3 hours (including a small break and folding/switching loads). I even managed to clean Em's chair so it'll be ready to go when we go to Texas.

I figured why let some of the food we have in the freezer go to waste when Emily can eat it. So I made her a frozen pizza last night for dinner. I usually cut it into 8 pieces. She at 3 of them. The leftovers can be used for lunch or dinner. I then finished up the left over cod/shrimp and green beans.

I got the laundry upstairs but didn't get much further than that. Most of the clothes I washed are more for "summer" and for whatever reason, nature has decided to stay "spring" a little longer. Today it's only supposed to be in the upper 50's. It's not even going to hit the 70's until the end of the week. Either way - Emily and I are ready. Besides she'll need some of those clothes when we go to Texas. It'll probably be very warm there compared to what we've been used to lately.

April 21, 2008

2008-04-21T08:01:00.002-05:00

Well the weekend was interesting. Some of the things I had planned to eat didn't happen because we were on the go on Saturday.

I also had found on Friday a website of people on the program that also posted some really good recipes that I wanted to try.

My week day schedule starts me eating at 5:30 in the morning, because I'm up at 4:30 usually. I also tend to space my morning meals 3 hours rather than 2. However, for the weekend I didn't want to get up that early - nor could I really afford to "really" sleep in because of trying to fit all 6 meals in.

So I woke up around 6, took my shower, weighed myself and by 7 was eating my meal. I knew we were going to some yard sales, so I made sure I had my eggs as my first meal and I was pretty sure we'd still be out and about for my 2nd meal so I grabbed my oatmeal raisin bar. While I made my breakfast - I also made Emily's.

Soon we were on our way. It was a nice outing and Emily had fun running all around. The yearly yard sale at the farm was great, although I didn't see as many clothes in Emily's size - though I picked up a quite a few throughout the day.

It was interesting trying to eat my "meals" throughout the day - because Emily kept wanting to eat them with me. So she was off her normal schedule - because I had to make sure she had her own food while I had mine. The first food she had was my oatmeal raisin bar. I think she had at least a 1/4 of it.

We get home and I start putting together the tomato soup pizza recipe. All that I was missing ingredient wise was the spaghetti sauce seasoning. Even with out it, I thought it was really good. Of course at the time, I didn't know it I had forgotten to put in the baking powder, but still overall I thought it was delicious. Plus it held me really well. Here I got to eat "bread like substance" and low fat cheese!

I tried the recipe with the cream of broccoli soup for a "white" pizza and it was pretty tasty too!

Someone on the website had also posted a recipe on using the oatmeal MF meal for cookies. They were good also - but I think I might modify it just a bit. But think these will be good to carry along when I'm traveling or even commuting home. In case of traffic backup (like Friday).

What I've noticed just in the week I've been on it is that I have more energy. I didn't "crash" like I've been known to on the weekends. I had energy to play with Emily and feel like I had a weekend instead of thinking where did it go? I think Emily noticed a change in me too as she was my shadow all weekend long. More so than normal.

My goal for my first week was to lose 10 lbs. I didn't do that - but I'm ok in that I was able to modify some things and make it like "real" food.

My stats last week

Weight - 278
Chest - 52
Waist - 47.5
Hips - 57

My stats as of today
Weight - 269
Chest - 51
Waist - 47.5
Hips - 57

That's a total of 9 lbs lost and 1 inch on my chest and hips and 2.5 inches on my waist. Just in a week.

I can't wait to try my hand at making some recipes using these products. I've already had things running around my head thinking what I could use to make some things I like - chips, bread, and because birthdays are coming up - cake.

I'm going to order some extra meals so I can take down with me to Texas so I can not only stay on the program and I can make up some of the recipes and have my family try them.

April 18, 2008

2008-04-21T08:01:00.001-05:00

Here I am - Friday! This morning I weighed 271.8 lbs. I'm not surprised I didn't lose more - I ate a little more of my lean and green meal last night than I probably should have, but the fact is even with that - I still lost!

Today my morning started out with their Chai Latte drink. Which after I did some research found out it was a kind of tea with spices. Anyone that knows me knows I don't do tea. :D It was quite tasty. Then for breakfast I had the blueberry oatmeal. I don't like blueberries and my initial taste of it I thought yea, probably won't get that either - but after a few bites it really grew on me and by the time I was done - I definitely will get it again.

For lunch I had the vegetable stew. I know what those that know me are thinking - yea right she really ate it, but I did and it was delicious!

My afternoon snack was banana pudding and it was yummy!

I found a website that is for those of us on the program - they have an area to add your meals, water, exercise, weight, etc. They also have an online bulletin board for us to share our experiences. I've already found a couple of receipies that I definitely want to try!

Tonight I'm going to try and saute up some shrimp, broccoli and squash. We'll see how it actually goes.

April 17, 2008 - Thursday

2008-04-17T08:40:00.000-05:00

Well here's day 4 starting and I weighed in at 272.4 lbs. Total loss so far 5.6 lbs.

I figured out the "cream" soups have a serious deficiency - the cream part doesn't mix well and makes the taste "off". I love tomato soup - but their cream of tomato kind of did the same thing that the cream of broccoli did so I didn't get it all down - although more than I did with the broccoli one. So I think I'll stay away from those types of things in the future.

The hot cocoa wasn't near as bad as the soups - but I have a feeling they kind of do the same type of process, because it took my whisk to really whip all the powder out.

Last night I got home earlier so I was able to work out a little longer. Em watched her Veggie Tale video while I worked out and Stephen mowed the yard.

When I was finished I got something to drink and started cooking dinner for myself and Emily. I marinated chicken breasts in a bit of the melted margarine and the Italian salad dressing (both which I can have). While that was marinating, I simmered green beans in some seasonings. I then cooked the chicken in the marinade and when finished topped it with a bit of pasta sauce. It was pretty tasty. Emily really loved it - gobbled it right down.

I tried to watch one of my DVR'd shows from the previous night - but Emily wasn't having it. So I got up and took her outside in the backyard. Such a difference from last year, she was having fun exploring. She just had trouble walking on the grass by herself. So I helped to get her used to it. We then decided to walk the back alleyway and then go around the front. All the way she was jabbering and shrieking because she thought this was the greatest thing ever. She even waved to the trucks and cars as we were walking on the sidewalk in the front. We then ended our walk by going to the backyard again.

I had made up some crystal light lemonade and gave her a sip - she absolutely loved it.

I let her wander around. One of the dogs two places down from us got his toy -because he/she wanted Emily to play with him/her. It was kind of cute. Our neighbor that shares the wall with us apparently got a rabbit. So Emily got to see the rabbit as well.

Had a funny moment - a neighbor (one we haven't actually met yet) thought I was Sue (one up) and Emily was my granddaughter. Then she thought I was Sue's daughter, Amber.

By the time that was over - it was time to go in - as Emily needed changing. We then went upstairs for some computer time before bed. It's getting warmer at night - so I dressed her in a t-shirt and light pants. The t-shirt is one I picked up when I became pregnant in January that says she's a big sister. Of course by the time Stephen came to get her so I could sleep he was questioning did I put her in it because I was pregnant again or I just put her in it. I had figured just to have her wear it - even though the statement on it wasn't "true" for the moment.

I just had my oatmeal & raisin bar. I was really dreading it - because I really don't like raisins. It was actually really good. They ground it up with spices and honey and you could barely taste the raisins. So this was a very pleasant surprise.

Some things definitely are tasting the way I think they probably will - others I have to admit are really surprising me.

April 16, 2008

2008-04-16T14:43:00.000-05:00

I forgot on Monday to write down my measurements - so this morning I did.

Chest - 52
Waist - 47.5
Hips - 57

That was the ehhhhwww news, lol, the good news is I'm down from my "original" weight which I was maintaining at 278 to 273.6. That's a total of 4.4 lbs in 2 days.

I'm quite happy about that. I'm also happy with not the dead tired I usually feel after not enough sleep in the night and it being Wednesday. By now I'm usually really dragging. But now, I'm just a little tired.

The treadmill is working out great for me and I think Stephen. The only problem I have is the "safety" switch. I keep accidently knocking it out since I attach it to myself and when swinging my arms I always seem to hit the string. By doing that it totally stops the program and all data you had been working on. For me that happens around 10 minutes. I've been trying to do at least 15 minutes and last night I actually did 20.

I tried one of Stephen's "veggie/soy" burgers last night and it was actually pretty tasty. Made me think of a chicken fried patty. I decided to give Emily a piece to see if she liked it - can we just say DUH! She kept trying to get more from me, although she ate most of her dinner.

I gave Emily a bath last night. She ended up in trying to stand up without help planting her face in the water. However, once we got her face dried off and nose blown - she was able to let me lean her back and rinse her hair.

April 14, 2008

2008-04-14T08:58:00.002-05:00

I started the lifestyle change today. I got up weighed myself and took my "beginning" picture. I've decided to set realistic goals for myself. I'm starting at 277 lbs. My first goal is to get to 230 lbs. After that 180 lbs. Then my ultimate goal is to be 150-160. I figure by doing it in stages will help keep me motivated.

I had ordered the variety package to start with, because I wanted to see what all came with it. I've decided after seeing everything - my next set will be a little more "my taste". But so not as to waste anything - I'll be eating them.

I've made Sunday the day to work on my menu for the week. I'm doing what they call the 5-in-1 plan. That's five of their meals every 2-3 hours and then 1 lean and green meal that I can make myself. I decided to do that 1 lean and green meal at home. So yesterday, I put all of my Medifast Meals together for the week.

They have a bunch of items beyond the shakes that you can make. Things like cappuccinos, chai lattes, soups, oatmeals and puddings. They also let you have different types of condiments and sugar free things - such as syrups and jello/puddings etc. I hope to use some of the syrups with my cappuccinos and cooking.

I also got a chance to try out our new treadmill. Stephen was nice enough to take Emily upstairs for awhile. I have a feeling I'm going to either have him do that if I want to use it or have Veggie Tales in the DVD. I was hoping to watch my recorded TV shows while I exercised at night - but that may not happen.

I've done my first two of five meals today. I can see why they say don't wait longer than 3 hours. I was getting really hungry right at 3 hours. I spaced my morning out 3 hours and my afternoon in 2 hour increments. Of course everyone's brought in something to eat today and it's sitting in the kitchen. It's a good thing they allow me to have my diet coke and count it as an extra water - otherwise it might have been come difficult. I'm supposed to drink 8 - 8oz of extra water a day.

So far so good! Here's a picture to show what I look like currently.

Cobbs Family March 2008

2008-04-08T14:54:00.001-05:00

2008-04-08T14:50:00.002-05:00

April 8, 2008

2008-04-08T14:28:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the lag in writing here. Work is keeping me very busy and I usually crash or play with Emily on the weekends.

We're still planning a trip to visit my grandparents to celebrate Grandma C turning 90. A week later will be Emily's 2nd and Stephen's 40th, so I'm sure we'll just celebrate them all while we're down there.

Grandpa C has been in the hospital now for 2 weeks. He had another episode where he ate and the food got into his lungs. He ended up with pneumonia. He's doing better now that my parents are down there.

It's hard to believe that Stephen and I will be celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary this Thursday. Since more than likely I'll be tired during the week - we're planning on dinner and movie on the weekend. Our neighbors are great - they said they would watch Emily.

Emily is growing and growing. I feel very blessed with a child that will eat almost anything. Stephen is more of an adventurous eater and so he gets her to try a lot of things. Things like Marmite (yeast spread) probably more well known by people Vegemite. She also eats dates, prunes, grapes - and loves ice cream. I tried my hand at making parmesan pasta and shrimp last night and she just gobbled it down. Normally we have to really get her to sit and eat - but not last night.

I've decided that I need to make a lifestyle change. Too much of my life is sedentary. So I'm investing into a protein shake diet that I will eventually transition toward more of a healthy eating lifestyle. Right now with work and what is coming - I really need something that is quick and easy to work with. The shakes, puddings, bars, will allow me to do what I need to do during the day and drive to and from - but I'll be incorporating fruits and veggies down the line. By doing this, I'll hopefully lose some weight and be able to have better energy. My goal is to lose enough weight to get off the blood pressure medicine. It really hit me how big I was when I got pregnant in January. I really didn’t want to be in a worse position than I was with Emily with my weight and blood pressure.

Stephen's getting into this as well. We decided to hold off on the membership to the Y for now. We instead invested in a treadmill. He’ll be able to use it during the day and I’ll be able to use it when I get home. Stephen will also then just buy food mainly for him and Emily. Last time he decided to get healthy – he did a great job with it. So here’s to hoping it goes well for all of us.

It appears that spring is here. The cherry blossoms are gearing up to be in full bloom and they're actually finally calling for 70 degree weather this week. Plus my allergies are acting up big time. There is nothing like waking up with your eyes completely bloodshot full of stuff and your sinuses completely blocked.

If you haven't gotten your order into me on our new family photos - please do so. I'm going to be ordering soon. If you need the website – just email me.

Work is really gearing up. I’ll be very busy the whole summer. Doubt I’ll have much time to do anything outside of work. I may even have to do some weekends – though hopefully I’ll be able to that from home.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-15T08:30:00.001-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

February 2, 2008

2008-02-02T07:19:00.000-05:00

We were hoping by this point we'd be able to share nothing but good news. However, it wasn't meant to be. So let me start off with the bad news - I was pregnant but miscarried. We're ok with it as it was very early in the pregnancy and we hadn't really wrapped our minds around being pregnant before I lost it. So there you go - the bad news... now on with the good news!

Emily had her spine appointment at Shriner's on Monday. The Shriner's usually drive up for our appointment. This time however, the rental place didn't give us a big enough car for the 2 drivers, Emily and Stephen and I. So, I went by myself. Challenge by itself as I was sick. It's hard by yourself trying to get Em (a very active toddler) to stand still for the xray. She kept wanting to sit rather than stand on the table they put her on. Then of course she didn't want to stand still for the xray. They did manage to get 2 xrays done. We then got her height and weight. She's now according to the doctors 31 1/2 inches tall and weighs almost 24 lbs. They try to use the same anomoly section(s) to do their measurements as far as how bad her curve is... July the xray was lying down and she was 73 degrees. October she was standing (with 2 of us holding her) and was 68 degrees. This time with only me trying to hold her she was standing and now 75 degrees.

In October we were told that the relationship they had with Temple was gone because Temple ended up closing. That our options for her surgery due to her heart condition might have to be at Children's. Of course Stephen and I had questions on that whole process and when I brought it up, apparently since then they have been working on getting agreements with another hospital in the area. It's still an ongoing process, however, they have high hopes that by the time Emily will need intervention, they'll have an agreement in place where Dr. Betz might be able to do the surgery at that hospital. More good news is that Shriner's hopes to have a brand new ICU up and running by June of this year. Even better news is that they've now come out with a brand new upgrade of the VEPTR. They're hoping overall that the technical advances without some of the current issues will be in place by the time Emily needs surgery. Plus if the agreements are in place, we'll have Dr. Betz actually performing the surgery and she might be able to recover at Shriner's.

So even though Emily's curve "has gotten worse" it's still not to the point where they want to do surgery. The next thing we have to set up is getting a CT Scan done so they can see her spine and anomolies exactly.

Friday, we had her cardio appointment. This was the appointment that was supposed to have happened in January - but the doctor had a family emergency. At the appointment in September, they were talking about if the numbers were worse they would probably try a cath procedure to dilate the stent. Well her numbers weren't worse they had stayed the same! So no surgery or cath procedure needed right now. They're really hoping that nothing will need to be done until late summer/early fall or beyond. The longer she can go, the better.

The cardio doctor also said she would help coordinate the CT Scan. So I'll need to email Shriner's with her information so that all that can happen.

If I can get all my tax information soon, hopefully we'll have some money coming back so Emily can go visit family. Especially now knowing she won't have to have anything done for awhile.

Hope you enjoy the new picture on the blog. It was nap time and she happened to fall asleep that way and I had to take a picture.

Hopefully, I won't have much to write for awhile as it will be pretty boring :)

January 9, 2008

2008-01-09T12:32:00.001-05:00

Hope everyone had a good New Years!

We did manage to have a scare with Emily on New Years Eve Day. I was downstairs putting away the tree. Stephen had her upstairs with him. She was going between the computer room and her new room checking it out. She must have turned wrong and fell back on the stairs. I hear the initial boom and dropped what I was doing to go check and managed to catch her falling down the rest of the stairs. Luckily we had the downstairs gate still up so she didn't hit the metal grates. She was a little shaken up after that but nothing was broken nor did she seem to have a concussion.

We had our neighbors watch Emily on New Years Eve so Stephen and I could go to dinner and a movie. They were also watching their young grandaughter - so Emily was pretty excited. So much so that when we got back to get her she wanted our neighbor Sue to hold her so she wouldn't have to go. They got a real kick out of her dancing to their demo on their keyboard. The also mentioned that she's really quiet (and fast) and smart. She may not talk a whole lot - but she definitely knows what you're saying to her.

I've been busy the past couple of weekends trying to get Emily's room ready for her to sleep in. Stephen for the past month has been sleeping on the futon mattress downstairs with Emily on the couch to try and get her used to sleeping on her own. I figured while he was doing that I could clean out the room and get it organized for the next stage - sleeping in her room. We had been using her room as a partial storage and changing room for me. Sunday - I had Stephen move some things (like an airconditioner) that had been stored in her closet and I moved most of my clothes in our closet. I also had to organize our room a bit.

I've put up her name on the wall (still not painted). We've moved the twin bed along the wall next to the bathroom. We still have Stephen's old chair and the rocker in the room. We took her mattress out of her bed and laid it on the floor with a bunch of pillows. I moved a rolling table in front of the low outlet - to try and keep her out of playing with it. Our neighbor had given us a basket - so I put some toys in the basket and put it in the bottom portion of the table and put her "computer" and books on the top. We used a small string of christmas lights over the door as a temporary night light. I'll have to remember to take a picture.

Starting January 6th, Emily is now sleeping in her room on her mattress. We figure once she's used to the mattress and room - we'll be able to introduce her to the bed. Stephen is sleeping in the room with her on the twin. She had a bad night (teething) Sunday night - kept waking up and crying. But Monday night she seemed to do better. Tuesday, Stephen was actually able to get up before her and take some time for himself. We've gated the doorway to the room. Last night she apparently slept the whole night through.

Our heart appointment got changed to February - the cardiologist had a family emergency. We'll probably email her soon to see if she wants to see her any earlier than February.

We also got an appointment in March for the eye doctor.

Other than that, not much is going on. I'm still working. This week is busier than most - but I'm still in limbo on whether or not my training is going to be moved from Feb/Mar time frame. On the weekends - I'm trying to tackle - cleaning and organizing a bit. I figure if I do a little bit each weekend - we'll eventually have the house looking decent and shouldn't have the "just moved in feel" we've had for awhile.

December 26, 2007

2007-12-26T12:23:00.001-05:00

It's now the day after Christmas. Where did my 4-day weekend go?

Friday night I met up with my "old" friends from my last job. It was nice to get out and just catch up on things. I was even lucky that it was at one's house that was closer.

They put on quite the spread as well. We had spinach dip, pepperoni/salami & cheese slices, little sandwiches and shrimp cocktail.

We sat around talking for awhile and then to my surprise (since no one told me) they exchanged gifts. I got a nice bracelet, book, chocolates and tea light candle holder.
We ended early because I thing we were all tired. I got home around 10 pm.

Saturday, we just kind of took it easy. Our neighbors called to invite us for Christmas brunch and New Years dinner.

Sunday, I mainly spent time with Emily and wrapping presents. I also put up the tree finally. I didn't put up all of the ornaments as I didn't know how the cats and Emily would react and thus didn't want to pick up broken ornaments.

I had just started the ornament hanging, when Emily emerged from upstairs and her nap. Putting the tree up took longer, since I had to clean and move some items. She was entranced by the tree and immediately started picking up ornaments (not on the tree) to start putting them on the tree. Well, more like on one branch - sitting not hanging.

She likes looking at the lights and going over to touch the garland. Every so often I see her heading for an ornament. She did pull off two glass ones, so after scolding her - she hasn't done it since.

Sophie initially tried "eating" the tree - it's artificial. I scolded her - so then she just likes to lay under it. Daisy found a couple of ornaments she liked to bat at, so Stephen moved those up.

Monday was a holiday for me work wise, so I definitely spent time with Emily while Stephen ran to get last minute things. I also managed to download an album for Stephen at the last minute. I also printed out a few more cards to hand out to some of the church members.

We went to Christmas Eve service and took Emily in the sanctuary for the first time. They were playing a lot of music and I thought she'd really like it. She did. At one point during the organist's solo piece, there were pauses, so she clapped and went "Yea!" at each pause. I thought it was kind of funny and so did most of the church people. We even got asked over for Christmas dinner (noon-1pm). We had to decline since we had already accepted the brunch invitation.

Stephen finally had to take her downstairs after the music was done to let her run around. She couldn't sit still or quietly during the sermon. So after the service was finished, I was leaving when I got told there were things in our box. Figuring it probably was the January calendar I stopped by to pick it up. It was that and much more! I couldn't tell you how many cards we received from the members. One even included a gift card.

We got back - Emily was running all over. I gave Stephen a break because he had a headache. Then I started loading the presents from upstairs to under the tree. Emily thought we should open them then. I explained how we needed to wait. We then decided to watch Scrooged. About 9:30, I thought I should probably head upstairs so Stephen could get Emily starting the process of getting to sleep. She was like the energizer bunny...I think it took him awhile.

Tuesday, I woke up later than I had the previous days to no one being up yet. So I got on the computer and was playing my Sims2 game trying to be quiet and let everyone sleep.
Emily is cutting 4-6 teeth right now. So she doesn't always sleep the night through.
Stephen about 1/2 hour later comes up stating Santa had been there and handed me a present. I opened it and it's a new expansion pack to my Sims2 game. I wanted it, but knew he had gotten me my Paint Shop Pro Photo X2 program. So this was a very pleasant surprise.

I showed restraint because I didn't immediately start loading it. I knew Emily would probably wake up soon and I didn't want to stop playing around with the new features of the game if I had just gotten it loaded.

When I heard her awake, I took down Santa's gift. I then gathered the out of town gifts and stuck them under the tree as well. I set up the camcorder and started recording her opening some gifts. It ended up being blurry because the auto focus was off initially. Oh well.

Stephen was out getting breakfast ready for her and telling me that next year she's going to have to wait until breakfast was done before opening.

I prompted Emily to open Santa's gift. It was in a gift bag with lots of tissue paper. She had fun pulling the tissue paper out. But didn't know what to make of the actual gift. It was a stuffed cat that purrs, meows and breathes. The red dots were still on it to show where to push to get it to purr or meow. She knew she was supposed to push it in those spots and did it with out me prompting. Of course, she was a bit frightened when she pushed one and it meowed. Then she pushed the other and it purred. She had great fun just holding it. Sometimes when you grab it a certain way it will meow or purr. She liked that she could pet it. Her next reaction was to pet it and go "Awww". Then she hugged and kissed it. I had a hard time to get her to open the next present. But she finally put the cat down.
The next present we opened was Grandma & Grandpa Stokes'. It was a Dora Cell phone. When she first started pushing buttons Dora would say Hello (Hola) Emily. She looked astonished that it would do that. I had a hard time trying to get it out of the box. Em was getting a bit impatient for me to get it out of the box.

After those gifts, we didn't open any others because it was time for her to eat. After that it was just hard to get her to open anything. I'd start tearing the paper and then she'd try pulling at it.

So after all that she got the following:

Book from Lora & Patrick
Elmo rocker(already put together) from Uncle
Jon, Aunty Amy & cousins Kyle, Trev & Carly)
Harness/Leash from Aunt Sharon & Uncle Randy
Two outfits from Uncle Jon & Aunt Amy.
Gift certificate from Grandpa Cobbs
Gift Card from Grandpa Pete
Money from Great Grandma & Grandpa Cooper
Money from Grandma & Grandpa Stokes
Money from Grandma Reams
Sweatshirt, long sleeved shirt, socks, hooded Hello Kitty towel, ornament, two block/shapes games from Mom & Dad

So thanks to all of you for her presents.

Once all the presents were opened, she had great fun putting the tissue papers into one box and then taking them out.

I then started in washing some laundry. I was trying to get her new clothes washed so that she could wear one of the outfits. I also then started making monkey bread. Emily by then wanted to be in the kitchen with me. So I pulled up a chair next to me and put her on it. Her job was to take the dough pieces from the sugar mix and put them in the bundt pan. At one point, I had to kind of hurry and help because I was running out of time to actually cook it before we were due to Steve & Sue's house.

So while laundry was going and the monkey bread was cooking I sent her back out to play with some of her toys, while I did dishes. Stephen by then was playing his CDs.

I thought I had started the timer for the monkey bread - but apparently I just set it and forgot to start the clock. So by then I had to guess the timing of it. I looked at the top and it appeared to be done, so I took it out flipped it over and it wasn't done cooking. So I put another foil sheet down on the pan moved it over to it and put it back in for a little longer.

Meanwhile, I dressed and moved stuff to the dryer and new stuff into the washer. Unfortunately, the stuff wasn't dry enough to put her in it. So we left her in her PJs and put a sweater on her. Steve and Sue keep their house cold usually - so we thought she'd be alright in that. Of course they bumped up the heat for Emily thinking she'd need it warmer.

Stephen had to go back and get her high chair and then we were ready to eat. Sue had made quiche and pumpkin pancakes. Emily ate really well. She particularly enjoyed the quiche.

Steve & Sue have 2 dogs. Emily was so funny with them. One of the dogs wanted to jump on her and lick her. Emily was having none of that. She would start swinging her hand and making a funny face anytime that dog came near to her.

We finally went out to their living room and basically chatted. I was trying to keep Emily out of their things - which for a busy toddler can get interesting. Stephen eventually got a hold of her and she started having a melt down. So he left to change her diaper and then called to say she finally crashed.

So I stayed and chatted a little more with them. Trying to give Emily time to sleep. Finally around 2 I came back. By then she was wide awake. I changed laundry around and then went upstairs to download Emily's name to the Dora phone. I thought the same cord would work for my little camera to download the pictures on the internal memory - but it didn't. I've got some great pics on it, but no way right now to download them.

I also finally loaded my Sims2. I was busy working with it, when I finally realized the time. So I got off the computer and went and started working on dinner. Stephen had opened the ham earlier and she and he were working on it a little bit. But unfortunately that meant any glaze on it pretty much had dried up. So I stuck it in a glass dish and put water in the bottom. I then made an impromptu glaze using my peach schnapps. It actually came out pretty tasty.

Emily and I sat and were watching the Incredibles while Stephen cleaned the kitchen and then went upstairs to the computer. Emily will pretty much stay still watching the incredibles. Don't know what it is about that movie that does it to her, but it's nice because she'll sit on the couch beside you watching.

She finally crashed I think around 8:30. Stephen told me this morning that she had a few periods of waking up until about 11:30 and after that she slept or he didn't hear her.
I'm of course at work now trying to get some documentation done. It's really quiet around here. A lot of people have what's left of this week off.

I hope all of you had a nice Christmas. I'll try and get what pictures and videos up sometime soon. The opening presents video I probably won't be able to put up as it's like 20 minutes long.

If I don't write again soon - have a Happy New Year!

December 20, 2007

2007-12-20T09:11:00.000-05:00

Em finally had her 18-month appointment on Tuesday. She is now 22 lbs 11 oz and 31 inches. Still in the 25 percentile for her age range. Guess we can say we have a petite girl (how that happened - no idea!)

I had Stephen ask the doctor about her left eye. It appeared to wander from time to time - we have a history of 'lazy' eye in our family and I thought better safe than sorry. Well the doctor apparently thought there was something there to get checked out - because now they're looking into sending Emily to a pediatric eye doctor.

I feel bad - she has so many doctors at such a young age.

I'm looking forward to the weekend. It's a four-day one! Plus Friday some friends from my old job are getting together and since I'm already half-way there, thought I'd meet up with them. I haven't seen the whole group since March this year and one of them since May.

Then Saturday we'll be cleaning and finally putting up the decorations. I really wanted to wait until closer to the time, mainly because of the cats - but I really don't have an idea of how Em will react to the tree.

I also need to wrap up her & Stephen's presents. I probably won't put those there until much later - as those I know she'll get into. We have the ones people have sent us on the dining table and she's already gotten into those. Although it was just carrying them around - not tearing into them.

I threw my back out last Sunday - so I didn't get my cookies made like I was planning. I may make a few - doubt I'll do the number I had been planning. I had figured to take the majority of them to work - but now with most people taking time off after Christmas, I won't have the number of people I thought would be eating them. Maybe next year will be less hectic and I'll get my friends up to help.

I found a really nice glass mug at the Dollar Tree and bought some acrylic pens so I could write on it. I wanted to give it to one of my co-workers who was a bit stressed out and not in a christmas spirit. So I put her name on the mug and filled it up with different kinds of hershey kisses.

Well it went over so well that now I've been "making" mugs for some of my other co-workers for their family gifts. I must say, it's been quite the feat trying to be unique with them. I almost wish I had taken pictures of them. Oh well!

I think that's it for now. Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Ok.. get me off Santa

2007-12-12T19:32:00.001-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

Santa Pic1

2007-12-12T19:31:00.001-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing - Photo Books

December 11, 2007

2007-12-11T15:49:00.001-05:00

Well, good news. We finally got the results of Emily's ultra sound on her kidney taken in October.

It appears the kidney with the cysts and no function is getting smaller. They think it should eventually dry up altogether.

The kidney with cysts and function - the cysts haven't changed in size or numbers. The portion of the kidney without the cysts has grown to compensate. They had hoped that this would be the outcome.

Because of this, we don't have to see him again for another year. The only thing we have to do in the meantime is to get some bloodwork done before the next appointment - next September.

So, next up - checking with cardio to see if or when they'd like to schedule the cath procedure.

December 10, 2007

2007-12-10T13:07:00.000-05:00

Well, this weekend went way too fast for my liking :)

We didn't do much. I think Stephen was tired from keeping Emily out of the room last week so I could sleep and I was still tired from commuting with the idiots and weather.

We did manage to go the local photographer's studio to have her picture with Santa taken. I knew we were in trouble when the person in the reception area stated that the 2 & 3 year olds were having issues with Santa. The younger and older kids were fine.

It was a nice setting with Santa. Emily went to the photographer fine. The photographer introduced her to Santa. As soon as she set Em down on Santa and went back to the camera, Emily lost it. I started being silly and trying to play peek-a-boo with her. There were a couple of moments where she wasn't smiling but wasn't crying. Unfortunately, I don't think the photographer got those shots.

Not sure when they'll be sending out the free 4x6 - but when they do, I'll get it posted.

I'm still trying to finalize the wrapping of the presents. I have a few more minor items to get today over lunch and I'll finish the wrapping tonight. Hopefully tomorrow Stephen can get them sent out.

I started my cookies - unfortunately I was going by a receipe I hadn't made in 3 years and by memory. I'll be more than likely not to try and do that again! I think I was also not really in the mood to do the cookies - so that probably didn't help.

We think next weekend will be better suited to start decorating and making the sugar cookies. We don't have anything planned and hopefully I don't fall sick again, like I have been each weekend so far.

In a couple of weeks is Emily's 18-month appointment. I told Stephen I wanted her to look at her eye. Her left eye every so often will wander a bit. Hopefully it's nothing - but with her other conditions I'm probably a little more hypersensitve about these things.

Last night was a little rough. Emily was having issues sleeping. Thus so was I. She fussed anytime I moved, so I basically slept in one position. So I'm a little tired today.

Work - well, most of the bosses are at a conference, so it's pretty quiet here. I thought I'd be able to work on some things to get ahead when we get our new environment - but apparenly our system is down. Which is hard since it has all of last year's information in it that I could use to help with the set up for this year. I'm trying to do this now, because last year was the first year of doing it on my own and I was forced to do it without taking notes, so I'm trying to remember what all I did.

Well, that's all for now!

November 29, 2007

2007-11-29T15:54:00.001-05:00

Well a slight change in our weekend plans. Apparently this weekend is the christmas tree lighting - not Santa pictures. That's next weekend.

Emily is now having issues sleeping in the bed - last night Stephen took her from me so I could get some sleep and when he brought her back up (asleep) so he could get some - she started fussing again. So they slept downstairs on the futon. I of course heard nothing I was so tired. I actually woke up at 3 and was worried (initially) when they weren't in bed with me.

So a project for this weekend is to get her room reorganized to put the futon and twin bed in the room so that we can start transitioning her sleeping in that room. Not sure she'd sleep in her toddler bed so we'll start with the futon mattress on the floor and go from there.

Makes me with I had 1 more day off so I could get more done around the house. Guess I might have to start a batch of cookies tonight. Just to get one of them out of the way.

I went out for lunch and got my hair cut. I'm trying to grow it out for winter, but it's getting a bit unruly. I'll know for sure if I actually like it once I style it myself. I've yet to find someone in a long while who styled it and I liked it. I still need to dye it - but figured I could do it cheaper - just need to find time to do it.

Hopefully by this weekend I'll have all the cards printed out and we can get those mailed out. My goal is also to get presents wrapped so Stephen/Emily can mail those out next week.

November 28, 2007

2007-11-28T16:10:00.001-05:00

Not much has been going on lately - hence the reason for not updating.

Stephen quit his part-time job. We're now back to the one income. It's good in a couple of ways - like gas consumption and my ability to give him Emily if she doesn't go to sleep by a certain time.

However, on the flip side, Emily now knows that going upstairs with me means bedtime and she knows Stephen is downstairs - where she wants to be usually. So we've been getting screaming/meltdowns with her anytime she has to go upstairs when it's dark and with me alone.

I did a couple of photo sessions with Emily - some of the pictures came out really good - others, well, she apparently didn't want her picture taken. So I got some "interesting" shots of her.

I haven't posted any lately - because I've been working on trying to get the DVDs burned, cards designed and printed. Plus it's been awhile since I played around with my graphics program and this is a new version - so I'm learning it all over again.

We didn't have a "normal" Thanksgiving dinner. That was alright since our church had one the week before for all the members. We decided since it was just the 3 of us, we'd fore go the normal dinner. We instead had lasagna.

We brought out Em's chair without the tray and sat her at the table with her own plate and salad fork. She thought that was the greatest thing ever. She didn't eat much, but she had fun trying to get stuff on the fork. She'd end up picking it up and putting it in her mouth and then realizing her fingers/face were dirty - kept wanting the paper towel to wipe them off -just to get them dirty again. Needless to say she got a bath after we were finished eating.

This weekend I hope to start the Christmas cookies. I think Emily will get a kick out of it - especially the sugar cookies. We're also going to a local photography studio to have picture taken with Santa. It might be better in a more intimate setting than at the mall with screaming kids.

Other than that - I've just been working & commuting. Right now things aren't too hectic - but I really see it gearing up after the holidays.

Stephen's been trying to organize and get things straightened up around the house. He got a new light up on our back porch so now I'm not walking in the dark to and from the car.

As far as Emily’s appointments – she should be coming up on her 18-month appointment. It won’t be until January that we have a CT Scan scheduled in Philadelphia. We haven’t heard yet from the cardiologist at DC Children’s on whether or not they’ve scheduled her for the cath procedure.

Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Nov 8, 2007

2007-11-08T13:17:00.000-05:00

Sorry we haven't updated in a while. Been busy with work and trying to sleep (and not get sick).

Emily's appointment went really well. Since July, her curve has not gotten worse. We're supposed to be coordinating with Children's hospital to get a CT Scan done before our next appointment. Dr. Betz at Shriners said for the time being, they won't do anything until she's 8-10 degrees worse than her 73 degrees. That was the good news. The bad news is that they may not be doing the actual surgery. Because of Emily's heart condition - apparently there needs to be a special kind of anesthesiologist. Because of my issues with children's in DC - we may end up at Children's in Philly. I guess at our next appointment we'll be discussing that in more detail. Apparently they are in the process of working out partnerships since Temple Hospital is closing.

My work is still static at the moment - but I see come January work really begin picking up. We have a server consolidation as well as migrating 6 of 7 systems I train into a new environment. Which means I'll be having to not only update old documentation - but create new documentation to address the new components. The new components need to be finished by mid-February if the production date which is early March doesn't get moved. Then we'll be doing demonstrations in late February and early March before they roll it out. I then have my "normal" classes - the first ones - scheduled for all of April. I'm training at least one system if not two each week. Which means I'll need most of the time in March to get all of the training documentation updated.

I then thought - ok, after April it should slow down and I can finish working on updating the rest of the documents. I just found out yesterday that the final system will be going through an upgrade in it's software in June. Since I'll be responsible for all of that documentation - I will have to get that ready in time for the roll out.

Now, Emily may or may not have surgery in the May-June time frame. She will probably have a cath procedure done in January. I just know I will not have the time to take off - so more than likely - Stephen will have to quit the part-time job so he can focus on Emily and I can focus on my work so I can actually make my deadlines.

Not looking forward to all the time I'll be spending away from Emily - but it pays the bills and since they probably won't be able to hire someone to help - I'm kind of on my own. Especially since we're now on a pay for performance versus a regular general schedule pay.

This weekend I hope to try and take some holiday pictures of Emily. I'm going to make a mock studio upstairs and see how well it goes. Should be interesting trying to keep an almost 18 month old sitting still :D

October 25, 2007

2007-10-25T07:02:00.001-05:00

Well good news, the lady who thought her baby might have the chromosome issue had the really detailed ultra sound and that doctor says there are no traits for it. So, they don't have to worry about it. Guess that initial screening was a false positive. I'm happy for her and she was nice enough to send me a private message telling me how my support helped her through this.

Driving in this morning - I left extra early - it was raining and traffic wasn't too bad until I hit Frederick. I opted to stay on 270 - figuring I was early enough it shouldn't matter. Uhhh right. I finally got off 1 exit before I normally would have. Good thing apparently too - everything was completely backed up at that point.

Bad news is, while I was taking my normal back road, I ran across an accident. I didn't see what happened, just stopped cars. Apparently a guy was either hit by a car or fell into the road. I'm not sure exactly what happened. There were three cars that stopped for him. I would have - but I didn't see what happend (not a witness) nor am I a medical type person. So I felt I'd be better getting out of the way. I just hope he'll be alright. Not really what you want to see early in the morning.

Needless to say - I got here later than I would have had I taken the back roads all the way. But also saying that - who's to say I wouldn't have been involved with that accident had I driven the back roads and been there earlier.

Glad I didn't see the accident but still a bit out of it because of what I did see. So if you can pray for the person.

October 24, 2007

2007-10-24T12:56:00.001-05:00

Not much going on. I didn't get what I wanted to do for the weekend, other than taking Emily to the farm to pick out her pumpkin. In doing that, walking around and picking her up I ended up throwing my back out - so by Sunday, I just wasn't up to standing up and cooking or cleaning.

Tomorrow evening should be interesting. Our church is having a fall festival. I told them I'd take pictures for them. So Emily and I'll be heading there after work until 9. Hopefully one of the older girls in the church will keep an eye on Emily for me while I go around snapping pictures.

Today, my nephew Trev is having surgery. I thought it was yesterday - but apparently it's today. I'm hoping all goes well.

I called my good friend (west coast dad) Pete yesterday. He lives somewhat near to San Diego. I wanted to make sure the fires hadn't gotten to him yet. He said it hadn't but the air was full of smoke and ash. Let's hope for all the people that live in that area that the weather changes soon and they'll have some relief.

Work is becoming interesting. I'm trying to update old documentation and create documentation on things that have never been documented before. We're also trying to get our new training area set up that will have all of the new areas in it. So far no one has even thought that far. I also have my performance appraisal on Friday afternoon. That should be an interesting meeting.

The fact that this is all going and I'm the only one doing everything - I have job security. I doubt they'll tell me I'm bad - because they want me to continue working :D

One of the ladies on my board had one of the pre-screening ultra sounds and blood tests for her new pregnancy. She just got the news that that pre-screening showed that the baby may have Trisomy 18. This was one of the chromosome issues that they initially thought Emily might have - hence the reason we did the amnio. Luckily for us she didn't have any chromosome issues. Now this lady is going to have some more tests done to figure out if the baby does in fact have this issue. I feel for her if the baby does - because that basically would mean the baby wouldn't survive - even if she carried it full term. Many times the medical professionals even try (if there's time) to have the parents terminate the pregnancy.

Everyone on the main board is trying to be supportive of her - but I just get kind of frustrated - because no one can really be supportive unless they've experienced this. The board supportiveness has basically been - oh sorry to hear this - praying for you - there have been a lot of false positives...etc.

I'm just trying to help her through the waiting. I've given her a contact of a person who actually had a child born with it. So that person could really relate to her.

So if you would be so kind - send some prayers her way. Thanks.

October 18, 2007

2007-10-18T09:20:00.000-05:00

Well not much going on here lately. We've been just working. Emily is getting much better with her walking - although she's still falling at times and some are doosies!

We took Emily to the park last weekend. She had fun with the swing and slide - but mostly just walking in the grass. Got some good pictures I think.

We also found out that we don't have a CT scan scheduled on the 22nd - apparently that was supposed to be a regular appointment (xrays) but they've now bumped that back to the 29th. Which I think is good - because I was under the impression that they didn't want to do a CT scan until she was closer to the surgery.

This weekend not much is planned. I might venture up to a farm to the north and see what fun we can have. I also have to bake cookies for the fall festival for next Thursday. Of course the most important thing - going to "child-proof" our room and convert her crib into a toddler bed. Until I can get some time to actually work on her room, I at least want to get her used to her own bed - because of the upcoming surgeries. So we'll see how that transition goes.

Friday, Oct 12, 2007

2007-10-12T12:08:00.000-05:00

It was an interesting night. I left work and tried calling Stephen to let him know I left work and was on my way home, but I got no answer. I thought - OK, I'll call his cell (he's getting better at taking it with him) because maybe they went out to get something and in certain stores he goes to, they have dead spots. No answer there either.

So I figured maybe he couldn't find the phone or they were sleeping and didn't hear it. So I gave it sometime before trying again.

For 40 minutes I couldn't get an answer from home or cell phone. Now I was getting worried - because usually if he hasn't heard from me - he calls me to find out where I am.

Turns out they were sleeping and all the phones were downstairs. Emily didn't go down for her normal nap until 2 (which is late) so she slept until 4:30-4:45. Stephen usually is woken up by her, so he didn't wake up either.

I was concerned - because I thought, gosh I hope she goes down tonight with that late of nap. Even though that wasn't the latest she's ever slept.

Fast forward - I'm upstairs with Emily trying to get our routine back in order. I had just got done feeding her and we were watching Survivor upstairs when the phone rings. Normally if we see no name, no number - we ignore those calls. So, I let it go to voice mail. Then almost immediately I get another phone call from the no name, no number. This time I answer it. I'm glad I did! No it was not Ed McMahn telling me I had won money..lol.. but almost as good!

It was a person from the local Shriners in Chambersburg who was letting us know that they could drive us to and from the appointments for free. We just have to give them a few days notice in order to get the reservation for the car in.

Em has her CT scan on the 22nd and a follow-up appointment on the 29th. So I think we're going to use them for those appointments. I think it will help so Stephen doesn't have to drive after working the night before.

I had heard that they help with transportation, food and places to stay - but thought we'd have to be affiliated or at least known to a local chapter. I think the hospital told the chapter about us. I'm glad they did - it will save us some cash. So if you haven't bookmarked the search tool for Shriner's Hospital - please do it now!

As far as the rest of the night - well Emily had a hard time settling down. She was up every hour on the hour or at least waking me up. At one point she was standing at the end of the bed holding on to my ankles. Normally that wouldn't be a bad thing - but I've been sleeping lower to give Stephen & Em some room so my feet are almost off the foot of the bed - so you can imagine the adrenaline I felt knowing she was down there and could fall!

Stephen came to bed around 4 and she was still all over the place. I finally asked her if she was hungry and she was like "yes". So I went down to get a bottle warmed up for her. Of course as soon as I got out of bed - she was crying because she wanted to come too.

I warmed up the bottle came back to bed and finished feeding her the whole 6 oz around 4:20. She finally settled some and then of course my alarm went off at 4:40. I shut it off and snoozed a little more.

Stephen told me that they didn't get up until almost 8. Which is what I was trying to accomplish for him - so he'd get a good 4 hrs in before the day started.

I also emailed the cardiologist - who says the Cath Doctors think they can dilate the stent to see if we can delay the open heart surgery for a little while longer. She also said right now the pressure is moderate - so it's not like they have to do something ASAP. So good news all around I think :)

We didn't go to the apple festival last weekend - which turned out to be a good thing with the weather being in the 90's. This weekend is supposed to be in the upper 60's - so a better weekend to go - I just don't know if we will considering the lack of sleep this week.

So right now - just playing what we're going to be doing this weekend by ear. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Forgot to mention....

2007-10-01T11:06:00.001-05:00

Emily was so cute yesterday at church. There is another little girl just about 4-5 months older than her with 2 older sisters and an older brother at church. Emily went to give her a hug and ended up knocking both of them down. She then gave the younger of the 2 older girls a hug. It was really sweet to see. The two older girls are really good with her and Em just loves them the more she's around them. The boy usually wants nothing to do with the little girls - was actually helping Emily to walk around a bit - which was unusual for him.

Then she was "exploring the studio space" as Stephen likes to say - basically testing out her new walking skills around the fellowship hall, when right before we left, she fell and hit her head. I swear that child has permanent bruises on either side of her forehead where she keeps hitting it. I of course kissed it to make it better - but the really amazing thing was she let our pastor kiss her owie too!

I didn't get everything accomplished as I wanted to - but I did get my DVD recorder working again and finally downloaded some video I had taken of Emily using the tape rather than the card and got those copied off the camcorder.

So hopefully I'll get some time here to move stuff off the external hard drive to make room for more movies/pictures and still make some new DVDs for the family. Looking back she has changed so much.

We're also hoping to go to a fall festival type place that I think has pony rides again this next weekend. I think it'll be fun since I actually have Monday off. I'm soooo looking forward to that!

New Link

2007-09-30T11:59:00.000-05:00

I just added a new link to my favorites on the side - called Good Search. Please use this to search on the web and add Philadelphia Shriners as the charity. We figure since they're paying for Em's medical for her back - we'll help out where we can.

It was a busy weekend for all of us. Friday night we were invited over to Amy & Mike's house (couple from church) along with other couples from church to have dinner and then some games. The older kids after dinner took the younger kids down to the nursery at church so the couples could have a little time together. It was really nice. Emily had her first spaghetti there. Amy mixes the spaghetti and sauce together with the meat and then bakes it a little bit to dry the sauce up. Stephen went for dinner but then had to head to work. I stayed to get to know some other couples better. I'll tell you what though - come 9 pm I was tired after a full week of working. Emily had a blast with the kids and Sarah told me she was looking a little tired. We came home and Stephen greeted us. Apparently after he got there, they said they had called and didn't want him until 10. Had we known that he could have stayed for the games as well.

We also got Emily's new carseat this week. She absolutely loves it. I absolutely love it. I'm glad we spent the money we did to get a brand new one. This one should last us awhile.

Saturday, I actually got busy cleaning and doing laundry. I let Stephen sleep in until it was time for me to go for my massage. Come to find out, I was a little late - but she had changed it on me and I heard Stephen wrong. But it ended up alright. Then I came home and Emily and I took a nap. I then made pizza and we had our neighbors over. They stayed about 3 hrs. It was fun just talking about things and getting to know them better.

Today was church. I'm hoping to get some time to actually try and fix my DVD recorder because I'd like to create some DVDs for the family of Emily. We'll see how that goes.

Here are some pictures - one is of Stephen and Emily in bed (her foot is on his face) I had to take it with no flash -so it's kind of blurry. The other is me and Em after church.

Quick Update

2007-09-18T12:07:00.000-05:00

Em had her 15 month appointment today. She is now 21 lbs 2 oz and is a whopping 30.25 inches long! Guess it's time to retire the infant carrier!

This past weekend (9/15-9/16)

2007-09-17T11:56:00.001-05:00

I didn't get much of a chance to get online this weekend - was busy with Em and trying to actually clean the house.

She actually fell out of the bed on Friday night around 12:30 a.m. I didn't see any gushing of blood - so I figured she was alright. I knew something more had happened because it took her a lot longer to go back to sleep, but I didn't know what it was until the next morning.

She apparently fell on her face. Her nose has delightful shades from the bruising and one nostril had dried blood. She acted fine in the morning and even let me touch her nose to try and get some of the dried blood out. It wasn't until much later when I was giving her a bath I saw a huge bruise starting to form on her forehead.

Luckily she doesn't seem to be acting any differently.

So now I'm in the process of buying bed guards. I figure until I get her room ready - she'll still be in the bed.

I'm also now really trying to get her room ready so we can start transitioning her to her crib and new room. I still have some major work to do on the room as there's a lot of paint peeling on the door frame & floor boards. Plus I'd need to paint over the walls as they have that blue sticky stuff to hold up posters all over it. I'll probably even see how much it would cost to get new carpet in there.

She did really good last night. I explained to her early that sleeping vertically was a good thing and she started sleeping on Stephen's pillow initially but ended up in the middle of the bed later. So when Stephen got home from work - he didn't have to move her much. How long this will last - that's another story.

I tried to get pictures of her nose Saturday morning - but she wasn't cooperating much. I'll try and get them posted a little later.

Who does Emily look more like?

2007-09-08T07:12:00.000-05:00

Emily's Celebrity Look-a-Likes

2007-09-08T07:02:00.000-05:00

Erin's Celebrity Look-a-likes

2007-09-08T06:56:00.000-05:00

Starting in September...

2007-09-06T06:44:00.000-05:00

Just a quick note. Been busy at work - but also at home, especially since Stephen started his new "part-time" job. Emily and I had all three days together this past weekend. I was hoping to get more done around the house - but with an active 15-month, kind of hard to do it all.

Emily had her cardiac appointment yesterday. She is now 29 1/2 inches long and 20 lbs and 2 oz. This means we'll probably have to "retire" her old car seat (portable one) and put in the new one. I'm just glad we got as much use out of it as we did.

As far as her heart, apparently the pressure is building up again. They're going to keep an eye on it. If it continues the way they think it is - they'll want to do another cath procedure to open it back up around January. If that doesn't do the trick, then we'll probably have to postpone the back surgery until she's recovered from the heart one. But the cardiac doctor knows our time frame that was set up for the back surgery - so only time will tell what will happen first.

We haven't had any "major" procedures since February - so it's been really nice just treating her as a "normal" kid. Now I feel like - here we go again. I really don't want her to have back to back surgeries - but it may turn out that way. She has to have the heart surgery to survive and we want the back surgery to happen so that her lungs develop properly.

I'll try and get up some new pictures of Emily soon. I have taken some - just haven't uploaded them yet.

Her next appointment is with the Kidney doctor on the 19th. I'll let you know how that goes.

Weekend of August 10, 2007

2007-08-12T05:39:00.000-05:00

Well it's been a busy weekend so far. Friday, I went to the doctor to get my bloodpressure checked out. They've got me now on bloodpressure medicine to see how that works for me. The only problem is right now - I don't know where my BP monitor is.. guess I'm going to have to look for it. They also wanted to do a blood draw and see if anything else could be wrong. So, because of the insurance I have - it looked like I'd have to take the morning off on Monday in order to get the blood work done. Then in two weeks I'll go back and we'll not only discuss the results of the blood work - I'm finally going to get the skin tag that under my arm removed.

After the doctor, Em and I got our hair cut. We went to a local place. Now that they've evened her hair out - I should be able to keep up with the trimming. I posted a picture already showing the new "do's"

I then had a massage - since my back was a mess. Just in time too. The knots in my shoulder areas were throwing not only my mid/lower back - but started to go over the shoulder. She didn't get all of the knot - but got the majority of it. So I'm feeling much better.

I found out from my friends in AZ (Carl & Geri) that the baby will be comming Monday. Apparently the baby is still breech and dr thinks close to 10 lbs. So they're scheduled for a c-section. So it looks like we just got the stuff to them in time. They have just bought a house and moved - so it appears they're all ready for the baby.

Saturday was another semi-busy day. Friday I called up my insurance to find out where I could go to get the bloodwork done. They gave me a place in Hagerstown. I called them up to get their hours - they were open on Saturday. It appeared no one who worked there knew the address (I got 2 different responses). My insurance company also had the wrong address - but right phone number. But eventually I got the blood drawn. So one less day to take off! They were quick and fairly painless too - big bonus there!

After that we went out for breakfast, since the peach festival hadn't opened yet. Em did good ate 1/4 of a pancake and then proceded to give Dad a heartattack - by rocking in her carseat - which was on top of a chair. So he grabbed her as I finished my breakfast.

Then off to the peach festival. This was a place that had an antique tractor show, crafts being sold, food (not all peach things as I had feared), horse back riding for kids, and a petting zoo. We were waiting for them to finish getting the petting zoo ready when I had asked the horse riding people if Em could pet the horse. She thought that was the greatest thing.

I saw other kids riding (walking around a big circle) and some actually had help. So I decided to have Em ride. Stephen would walk beside to help hold her up. She was a natural. She was not happy when it ended. I think I have a cowgirl on my hands. I got some good pictures of it.

By then the petting zoo was opened. They had all sorts of things. Ducks, chickens, pigs, dogs, kittens, puppies, rabbits, llamas, goats and geese. I'm sure I'm forgetting a few. Em wasn't quite sure what to think. They had this area where they made the kids sit on some bales of hay in order to hold the kittens, puppies, etc. So I knew Em was too young to hold, so I sat her by a boy who was holding a kitten so Em could pet. The boy was really nice in letting her do that.

Then we walked around looking at some of the ducks, chickens and geese, when all of a sudden a beagle (dog) came up to her. Gave her kisses and everything. She wasn't sure she liked that at all. He kept coming back too. Then I decided she probably had enough - so as we were walking back to the gate, two goats came up to her. One really liked her. Actually stood so she could pet. That was pretty amazing as they were running from all the people in the pen.

Stephen picked up peach preserves and had peach ice cream. I had a snow cone. I loved the people that did this - they actually put it in a bown and actually gave it some real flavor. So I shared with Emily. She really liked it.

It was a lot of fun. Now today I get to get busy working on laundry and picking up a little bit (aka finding my BP monitor). Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Our new haircuts

2007-08-10T13:08:00.001-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

The Face

2007-08-07T19:01:00.001-05:00

Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Share Photos - Free Video Hosting

August 6, 2007

2007-08-06T10:33:00.001-05:00

Well, last week was rough. I had 4 full days of giving training (Tues-Fri) and Stephen had 2 full nights of training for his new job (Wed & Fri). For what ever reason, Emily did not want to go to sleep before 10 pm. By Friday, she and I actually slept downstairs. I slept on the futon mattress on the floor and put her on the couch. It used to be you would place her on her back and she'd stay there asleep. Now, she's all over the place. She woke herself up Friday night/early Saturday morning - plopped herself sitting and then flopped over to one of the cushions fast asleep. Well, I woke up saw it and went back to sleep -because I thought she was sleeping. The next time I woke up she was fast asleep beside me on the mattress.

Of course, my body things 6 am is sleeping in - so I tried not to wake her -but she woke up anyway. We kept the air on Saturday and even though she slept decently Saturday - she didn't want to go to sleep until 11 pm. Around 10:30 - I finally put her in her Pack-n-play to let her "cry it out". After about 10-15 minutes I brought her back to the mattress - but she still wouldn't sit still. So I finally put her in the recliner with me and we both fell asleep there. Around 12:30 I woke up and put us both on the mattress. Unfortunately the way I was sleeping (rocking not reclining) did something to my neck/back. I think I'm pinching a nerve somewhere - because periodically my feet go numb/tingly.

We went to church - and because it was cooler than it's been, we left the air off and the doors/windows open. We did finally get some rain which did cool off a bit and we both slept upstairs. I got her to bed before 9 - which makes me happy. For the most part she slept through the night. Even if she was all over the bed.

It's days like this that make me wish for the van back. I'm so tired today that it would feel really good to sleep my lunch hour away in the van. The truck - the seats don't recline - so I'm kind of out of luck there.

A co-worker loaned me her copy of the latest Harry Potter book. I actually finished it this weekend. Although at the end of the book - Em was demanding my attention - so I don't think I comprehended it all - so I'm going to go back and re-read it.

Em's newest thing is to sit in a white basket we (used to) use for putting misc objects in. We got some pictures yesterday with her in it - I just have to get them uploaded. When I do, I'll post some here.

We also have an appointment at Shriner's for her CT Scan in October. We emailed the PA to find out some things about it. Depending on her answers - I might go - I might not.

Other than that - everything else is just status quo.. Em the energizer bunny into EVERYTHING and the 2 parents that are having a hard time keeping up :)

July 26, 2007

2007-07-26T12:09:00.000-05:00

Last Wednesday we had the appointment at Shriner's Hospital in Philly. It was a long drive and day - but well worth it. They initially have measured her at a 73 degree curvature (Children's was saying 60). They did say it was more of a complex spine than they've seen in awhile but she's a perfect candidate for the VEPTR (Titanium Rib) procedure. He said absolutely there would be no fusion done at the moment. He explained that had she had only one major hemi-vertebra then they might consider it - but she has 2 that are causing most of her curve and he felt fusion wouldn't be her best option. (Children's was talking about fusing her spine). He doesn't want to do anything to her until she's at least 2. They're going to monitor her every 3 months - just to keep an eye on her curvature and if she progresses fast - then we'll reassess when the procedure will be done. But if she doesn't - then it's around when she's 2.

I can't tell you how relieved I am to have a doctor that knows what he's doing (and staff as well) as well as actually listening to our concerns. I was very impressed that he even knew the term "VATER" or "VACTREL" and asked us if anyone had used the term about Emily. The geneticists had and then he proceeded to ask if she had any other issues that are associated with this "syndrome" - she doesn't.

Stephen's Mom and my parents came for a visit. We got a lot of things done. My front "garden" now looks a lot better thanks to Stephen's Mom and my Dad. The real BIG thing is that my really weird colored dining room is no longer that color! My Mom & Dad primed the room while we were at the Shriners. After seeing it without those icky colors - I decided I needed to finish it. Stephen's Mom had put a nice purple flowered print table cloth on the table and so I went looking at colors of paint and borders. Dad & I painted and I did the borders and Stephen picked out the light.

Here's the before picture:

Here are the after:

The nice thing is - I'm going to get rid of the wallpaper in the living room and paint the walls an beige/eggshell color and then use the same border as the dining room. Should really tie everything together - but still be different.

Emily is becoming more and more like the Energizer Bunny (or my Dad). Soooo much energy. Her new favorite thing to do is go up the stairs. She'll do it like 4 times in a row if you'd let her. Now instead of carrying her upstairs to go to bed - I just follow behind her as she crawls up them. Last night, I did that and then walked her toward the bedroom and she saw the 2nd stairs to the top room and acted like she wanted to go up those as well.

I picked up a little battery operated keyboard at a yard sale and she just loves it. Unfortunately it has these buttons for two demo songs. Those are the ones she really likes to play. I'm working with her on just playing the keys. But she thinks it's great fun to start the music up and then conduct it.

She now takes it upon herself to go and actually "sit" in "her" chair. Of course that doesn't last long and she thought it was great fun to stand on it (either the arm or on the chair part and then lean) and even though I told her to sit in it -she didn't listen and last night it tipped over. Down she went. Not hurt - but definitely startled.

While my parents were here we were able to trim up her hair. So here are some fairly recent pictures of her...

Stephen got the part-time job and he'll be working nights. So I've been trying to transition both Em and myself to me putting her down for bed. I really need to come up with some routine where I can get her to bed between 8-9. Right now, she's up between 9-10. I think she can tell things are changing because she's a lot more clingy at night. For example, Stephen was able to go do his pre-Computer Based Training last night. I put the gate up on the stairs and then climbed over to go upstairs to change. She was sitting there crying until I came back down. Just as she realized I wasn't gone - I went to the kitchen and she started crying again. We do keep her out of the kitchen - so she doesn't get into the cat food/water. It took awhile for her to stop crying.

I guess we'll develop some sort of routine and hopefully she'll calm down.

Glamor Girl

2007-07-17T08:51:00.001-05:00

News!

2007-07-13T08:20:00.001-05:00

Well, great news all around. Not only did the PA from Shriner's call to get more information on Emily - Dr. Betz apparently is taking and interest in her. We've got an appointment on the 18th to see him. I'm kind of stoked - because he apparently doesn't see very many kids anymore or is very selective. Not that it matters - everything I heard about Shriner's in Philly is really good.

The other piece of news is Stephen got the part time job. Won't be a ton of money - but it will get him out of the house and help out money wise. We don't know the exact schedule yet - but we're hoping 8pm to midnight M-F. Shouldn't be a great problem - but I think we're going to have to find a babysitter just in case I can't get home in time or if I have to travel.

Stephen's mom is visiting us and my parents arrive today. Can't wait to start getting things done around the house. Especially the upstairs. I'd like to now find a futon frame. I initially bought a trundle frame for the futon mattress - but since right now we don't need it - I'm thinking we could use an actual futon in the blue room. That way if someone needed a room to stay in they could. I was thinking initially Emily's room - but who wants to sleep with the baby - except us?

Oh well - I'm sure I'll get some stuff done and some stuff not done. It'll just be nice to have my family around for a change.

July 10, 2007

2007-07-10T11:05:00.000-05:00

Well I don't know about you guys, but it's been pretty warm here the past couple of days. I'm sure we're not as warm as out west has been - but for where we live - it's warm. And because we don't have air in the house - it gets even warmer.

I had Stephen take Emily out of the house yesterday. That apparently turned out to be an interesting experience. Emily, for what ever reason, was vomiting all day long. Anytime he fed her, 5-10 minutes later, she would vomit all up. He finally got worried enough that he stopped by the doctor's office on his way home. They said it was probably viral and to give her pedialyte for most of the night. Then to try milk again and see what happens. If she was still vomiting everything up today - then the doctor wanted to see her back.

By the time I got home, she was drinking the pedialyte. Not a lot, like 1 to 1 1/2 ounces every couple of hours. Then of course I had to eat - so I had a very cranky baby. She was hungry and wanted to eat with me. Then a little later I got some water and she wanted that too. So I broke down and gave it to her. She was gulping at it. Which I thought was good. She had been keeping the pedialyte down so I figured if she could keep some water down that maybe this thing was over.

After about 1/2 hour of giving her some water, we decided to try some milk. She drank 3 oz and kept it down. So I finally decided it was time for a bath. I kept it kind of on the cool side because it was warm in the house and she was still a bit warm to me. She didn't like that one bit. So the bath didn't last long. But she was clean and a little cooler.

I then tried to get her to go to sleep - but it was pretty warm up in our room, so I suggested to Stephen that he sleep downstairs with her. So they did. Apparently it went really well. He got her to sleep. Did a dream feed with her around midnight where she took 5 oz and kept it down.
When I got up this morning, they were lying on the futon mattress in the middle of the floor.

She heard me come downstairs - so she was starting to wake up - so I rubbed her tummy and she went back to sleep.

Stephen told me this morning that she ate her cereal with fruit and had 4 oz of milk and everything's looking good.

So hard to say if it was viral or heat realted or even teeth related. Really wish those molars would come through already!

We're now getting ready for Stephen's Mom and my parents to come for a visit. Luckily it sounds like the heat is going to break right around the time they decide to visit. Really makes me want to have visitors - if they bring cooler weather with them! (Stephen's sister did the same thing).

June 18, 2007

2007-06-18T11:20:00.000-05:00

Our weekend was pretty good. First thing I did on Saturday was go and get a massage. That felt great. I then went to Walmart to pick up a few things. One being graduate food to try with Emily. She eats the stage 2 food really well and really likes eating food off my plate - so I thought I'd give it a shot.

On this other site I'm on, there are a few people that live in the same area I do. We were trying to get everyone to meet up at a local park on Saturday. Unfortunately - only one other mother ended up coming. She has a lovely 5 month old boy. It was nice meeting some new people that live in the area.

Emily didn't know really what to think of the whole park. When I put her down she held on to me the whole time. I did get her in one of the few swings that were set up for little kids. She really didn't know what to think of that either. She did find the little boy fascinating. I'll get the pictures uploaded sometime this week.

The rest of my weekend was cleaning, doing laundry and watching videos. Em has to be teething - there's a lot of drool, biting and general fussiness. I really hope what ever teeth are coming next don't take forever.

The big highlight of this past weekend is Emily is now associating words! We asked her where her stuffed animal (Mr. Kat) was and she went right to him and picked him up. I did the same thing with a popsicle stick. So it's nice to know she knows what we're talking about even if she doesn't "speak" yet. We also started on the milk this week. We're doing a gradual introduction - although she was hungry and we didn't have any bottles made up - so I threw together a bottle of milk for her and she drank it no problem.

June 15, 2007

2007-06-15T11:25:00.000-05:00

I know it's been awhile since I last posted anything - it's just been crazy around here lately.
For whatever the reason June for me at work is nuts. I was on travel last week training. Then had 2 classes this week, one all day meeting and trying to get ready for the rest of the classes the next two weeks. Next week I train Tues, Wed & Thurs. The last week in June I train Mon, Tues, Wed & Thurs. So, not only will I be busy training - I've been busy trying to get all the training materials ready, getting the room ready for the next day's training and anything else that comes up. Been some late nights, which isn't good when you're not caught up from the jet lag!

While I was on travel, I bought a little Kodak camera. I still like my "big" camera, but for flying - it wasn't convient to take - so now we have a little one. It's nice for as cheap as it was... it not only does some of the things I like about my big camera - it also takes videos.

I took some pics of Emily with it last weekend. I even got some videos of her crawling - to show you all how she does that.

Em had her 1 year appointment (late) today. She is now 19 lbs 0.2 oz and 28 1/2 inches long. Here are some pictures I took of her last weekend.

May 24, 2007

2007-05-24T12:02:00.000-05:00

Sorry I haven't been writing lately - work has been crazy! I've been doing some late hours
trying to get training materials together for a class that's happening on June 5th. My boss was
supposed to be gone from today until the 11th, but whatever she was supposed to attend next week - she doesn't now. So we'll have a little more time to work on things.

The party last weekend was a success! Not everyone I invited showed - but we did have a
good turn out. We had our next door neighbors come with their 3-year old granddaughter. They were a HUGE help with things. We also had the pastor/wife and another couple from the church attend. We had Stephen's step-brother and his wife as well as a few of my friends from
Virginia. Even our contractor with 5 of his daughters showed up. It was too bad that none of
my extended family showed up - then I know we wouldn't have any food left over! :)

Needless to say - I'm a bit OVER hot dogs for awhile! (been eating them for lunch lately)
Em did really well considering the number of people in "her" house. She even let people hold
her - which is a HUGE deal. My friends from Virginia couldn't believe the change in her since
they last saw her.

She was funny with the cake. I did a jello cake and she stuck her finger in the coolwhip and
didn't know what to do with it. So I stuck it in her mouth. She didn't "dig" into it like she
normally does. I did give her a few bites off the fork and she liked that. Hindsight is 20/20
as I should have given her a spoon and let her at it - then it would have probably gotten all over
her and the house.

She was quite the ball of energy when people finally left. It took awhile to get her settled down.

Then the next day we went to Baltimore for the NICU party. We got there early, but weren't
allowed to go in until 1. It was not what we expected and one of the few people we didn't want
to see (the genetic dr there) was one of the few we did see. Although she didn't recognize us.
Needless to say after being in the crowded noisy room with Em starting her meltdown (was naptime but she didn't want to nap) we left a little before 2.

Then my crazy late nights have been going on.. so Em is having issues with her schedule. Hopefully by this weekend - we can get her back on it.

I'm attaching some pictures from her party.

Enjoy!

Emily is 1 years old

2007-05-17T04:13:00.000-05:00

I wrote this yesterday - just didn't get a chance to post it until this morning:

Well today marks Emily's first birthday. She was born a year ago today at 1:34 pm.
I remember it quite vividly - as I was in the hospital and they were trying to induce natural labor since Sunday - Mother's Day.

During that time frame they were doing gel and pitocin trying to get something to start my labor. Her heart rate dropped a couple of times - but came back up. I was making ZERO progress - so around 10 am the Dr. came in and said they were doing rounds and discussing cases and that more than likely they'd send me home to rest for 24 hours and then they'd start again.

So we called my parents - telling them that I was probably coming home - so not to come up to the hospital (it's a 25 minute drive from where we lived). Stephen had figured out finally how to convert the chair to a bed and started taking a nap. Me, the bed was so uncomfortable, I rolled to my left and started going through a magazine one of the nurses left for me.

I couldn't tell you the exact time (noon-ish) but Stephen hadn't been asleep that long and I was not even through the magazine when all of a sudden the room was FILLED with people. Apparently Em's heart rate dropped again. I guess this time they were really concerned because I was already on my left side and the "belts" were attached. I say that because earlier in the morning they came unhooked and no one charged in to see what was the matter.

So the next thing I know I'm being wheeled to the back "OR" as a "precaution". Can I just say they're not good drivers - I swear they hit every wall there was along the way. They then get me to sit up and the Epi people were looking at my back, they found her heartrate, and then the doctor says to me - "You know what we were discussing earlier? Well, forget it - how would you like to become a Mom now?" I was floored. I had mentally prepared myself for the "natural" way and now I was getting a c-section. The one thing I kept telling them I was fine with.

The epidural was a very surreal experience, since I was trying hard not to freak out by events. They threw the antiseptic on my back - told me it was cold - but this was freezing! Then they told me to tell them if I felt something on my right or left. So here I am with a start of a cold trying to tell them right right. The nurse was lovely and told them for me. Of course they then had to say my right or your right. Which I didn't get since it basically was the same right since my back was to them.

But then they got it in and I was immediately "tingly" from the waist down. I do remember them telling me I needed to move over to the other table and I was like I can't, which seemed to surprise them. I guess I forgot to tell them that stuff like that works almost immediately on me. Oh well. They got me moved over. Did their things.

All I know is they strapped my arms down threw my "gown" up as a tent and I was just trying to breathe so I wouldn't panic.

I then had "Dr. Play-by-Play". One of the anesthesiologists who was watching me was asking, "Hey did you feel that? No, that's good, they just cut you open". Like I really needed to hear that.

And not long after that, Stephen was by my side. He immediately started wiping away my tears that somehow managed to leak out. He started telling me what they were doing too, until I must have looked at him funny - because then he stopped.

I do remember that the Doctor had a hard time getting Emily out of me. They had to drop the table and she was like 6 feet tall. Em's head apparently got stuck in my pelvis. But she managed to get her out (at 1:34 pm) and briefly held her up for me to see. Emily didn't scream or really "cry" loudly. It was more of a protest of "Hey, I was happy being in there!"

NICU was standing by and got her cleaned up and did her stats (if I recall she got 9's on the APGAR) They wrapped her up, gave her to Stephen to hold and bring to me. He's showing her to me kind of crying and said "She's so beautiful". I was trying very hard to keep it together and it was hard with him crying. He gave her back to the NICU people and came back to me. I told him to go with Emily - that I'd be fine.

I remember getting into recovery and asked Stephen to get pictures of Em for me - I knew my Dad had his camera (of course I was right). We joked after the fact that he frightened her so much with the flash that she didn't open her eyes for 3-4 days afterwards. But I guess Dad had forgotten to get batteries and so he and Stephen ran around trying to find some.

Now a side note - apparently after they wheeled me into the back, Stephen called up my parents to say hey the baby's coming - get up here as quickly as you can. To tell you how quick it was - apparently my parents were outside when the NICU people were wheeling her from Labor & Delivery to the NICU. They asked if it was our baby and the hospital staff looked leary until my Mom explained they were the Grandparents. So they got to go into NICU with Emily while they got her situated.

I think it was about 3-3:30 before I got out of recovery and down into a room. Little did we know that you had to buy a special card in order to watch TV. So Stephen ran down to get me one and saw a little stuffed animal (cat) that looked like our cat Sophie. So he picked it up to show me and I thought it was for me. Apparently he picked it up for Emily. It was a good thing. It kept her company and held up a lot of wires and things.

It was not quite 24 hours before I was able to see her in the NICU. I was so worn out that I didn't stay long. But by the next day, I was there as long as I could be. It was there that I was finally able to hold my baby.

I was out of the hospital in 3 days, but Emily was in there until 3 weeks old - but that's another story for another time!

May 1, 2007

2007-05-01T11:49:00.000-05:00

Happy May Day! Or is it now being called International Labor Day? Anyway we're now counting down to Emily's 1st birthday. Hard to believe in 15 days she's going to be 1 years old.

We haven't posted much lately mainly because we've been busy. Plus I was having issues with my wireless router. Luckily I was finally able to get it working last night.

Stephen worked hard to get the home insurance "issues" fixed before Mid-May. As of today - the insurance guy came and took pics and said we were good to go. Stephen put up a metal railing on the front porch, painted the wood on the balcony in the back, and put in a handrail off the step to the alley from the deck. I think he's talking about putting one off the back steps as well - even though that wasn't part of what needed fixing.

We also got all the plumbing done. So now we're trying to get the basement straightened up so that we can move some more stuff out of storage.

Em is teething. She has 4 teeth that are coming in at once. The upper right, one of the canines, a bottom tooth to the left of the 2 she has and the upper left (which for the time being has gone back under the gums). She's been rather fussy and no wonder! I tried to get some pictures of her and these new teeth - but she wasn't cooperating for the camera. Here are a few of the shots:

She was supposed to have an appointment this Friday with the cardiologist - but that just got postponed until next Friday. We're still on schedule for the CT scan on May 31st.

Well, need to run.. lots of work to do.. Have a Great May Day!

Day of Firsts

2007-04-22T08:17:00.000-05:00

Well, it has been an interesting weekend so far. I took Friday off, in order to watch Emily while Stephen worked with the contractor on the plumbing - well that didn't happen. The contractor had to delay us due to the project before us having rain issues and then more things wrong than he initially thought. So he's supposed to come on Wednesday.

So, we decided to hit a bunch of "Yard sales" on Friday. I'm glad we did! We got some great things really cheap! Like a 6 drawer (low) dresser and matching nightstand for $40. We also got a round dining table with a leaf and 4 wooden chairs for $65. We got some other things to help decorate or help with food preparation. We did get a brand new umbrella stroller for $8. Which once we got we used all weekend! She's almost outgrown her infant carseat, so I figured it'd be a good enough time to work on not relying on it all the time. Plus Emily really liked seeing everything. Stephen got the push mower (manual) and finally mowed the yard. It was getting pretty bad. But with the weather being good - it was perfect timing.

Then Saturday we decided to hit some more yard sales. This time we made out like a bandit on a bunch of dresses for Emily. Since we go to church and this church dresses up - felt like I needed to get her a few that she can wear now and these were in really good shape!

So our day of firsts was really Saturday. Emily had her first taste of milk. She really liked it. We also fed her some honeydew melon and some pears/peaches - real ones. She also is now able to pull herself up using the couch, our legs or the bathtub and she's started crusing a little bit.

The biggest first was sitting in the grass. Unfortunately, just like the snow - she didn't like that at all! Here are a few pictures to prove it...

What am I sitting in?

I'm not sure I like this...

I really don't like this....

Get me off of this stuff!!!!

Needless to say after that she barely stopped crying until we were FAR away from the grass. I went to stand her in the grass so I could get up but she actually held up her feet so it wouldn't touch it. After that we played a little bit in the Exersaucer outside to help her calm down. I actually got video of that - check out my picture area that has the video... http://dropshots.com/kerina313

April 17, 2007

2007-04-17T11:08:00.000-05:00

I took a few pictures last night (or tried too with a squirmy/active 11 month old) of Em's back during her bath. I thought it about time to try and show the actual curvature of her back and how it affects her sitting and standing. I think she does pretty good considering. I just know I take so many pictures of her - you don't get to see that she's curving or you don't get to see that she has a scar from the heart surgery. All you get to see is that she's a happy little girl.

It was very interesting trying to get her to sit still so I could get back far enough to take the pictures. She was either rolling or army crawling her way around. My favorite shot of the night I think was her up against the wall with her having the expression - Oh No! I'm caught!

I did try and get a few pictures of her after the bath - to document she's now 11 months old. I sat her in the chair like I always do and she just would not cooperate! There were a couple of time I thought for sure she'd throw herself head first over the chair.

She had a few moments where she woke up crying last night. I gave Stephen a break and jumped up to her first. Luckily, all I had to do was lie her back down, stroke her head and turn the heating pad back on and she was out in like a minute. Unfortunately those little breaks interrupted my sleep - so I woke up late (but got out of the house on time) - but my day has been hazy so far.

She apparently has two teeth poking through really good now. She was gnawing on the plastic cups in the bath and after Stephen told me to check it out - WOW no wonder why! She has a canine and incisor on one side coming in. I had a feeling we'd be seeing some finally on top! So I'm not surprised she didn't sleep all through the night. We forgot to give her tylenol before bed. So she actually did pretty good considering :)

Not much else going on - we're planning on starting fixing the plumbing on Thursday. That should be an interesting project. I'm going to see if we can get in this project a garbage disposal added to the kitchen sink. That part is little compared to what really needs to be done.

April 16, 2007

2007-04-16T11:12:00.000-05:00

Today Emily is 11 months old. Hard to believe we've made it almost a year. She's definitely increasing in her gross and fine motor abilities. This weekend, she actually started army crawling toward things. So now she uses the rolling only when she can't crawl or gets too tired crawling. I'm going to try and get some video of it - it's actually kind of cute how she gets around. She's also started trying to pull herself up. Usually on me, but it's a start. She's now using her crib. The biggest hurdle with that is getting her feet placed right. Once we work with that - she's usually up in no time.

We've been pretty busy this weekend. Stephen had moved some of the boxes/bins from storage to the house. Some he put in the garage - the others were in the dining room. So Thursday or Friday, he moved some up to what will be Emily's Room. Saturday we went to different yard sales and even an estate auction. We found a few things. But eventually went back to the Goodwill that had some nice furniture and found out some of the things we wanted, they no longer had. But one of the sofa's were still there - so we bought it. It's a sleeper sofa and the mattress was still good. Got it for $68. The only problem was trying to get it home. So Stephen drove the truck and I drove the van with Emily. She thought it extremely funny watching Mommy try and lift the couch. Her laugh is really contagious - so it's hard to concentrate to lift when you hear her laughing. Stephen thought it extremely funny also.
Anyway we got it into the house before it started raining - but we really need to reorganize the living room. We're keeping the other couch until after the party - so we have room to seat everyone.

Then Emily and I went up to the top floor to organize and move things around so we would have room for the other bins/boxes. Stephen ran errands (like groceries) while we were busy. He also cooked steak which was really good - have I said lately I LOVE our new grill?
So we got quite a bit accomplished on Saturday.

Sunday, due to the weather (I didn't want her out in the cold/rainy/windy weather). Emily and I cleaned up the kitchen and did laundry. Stephen moved the boxes from Em's room to the top floor and then from the dining room to Em's room. We're staging so we're not doing 2 or 3 full set of stairs all at one time. Some of those bins/boxes are quite heavy. He then went to the basement moved some of those boxes to the dining room and then finished pulling down the ceiling. I think Thursday they're supposed to start fixing the plumbing.
I was able to go up and move some of the boxes/bins around to make more room. I figure even if we use the top floor for storage, I want it neat enough that we can also put the bed(s) up there for guests if we need to for the time being or us go up there. I've got it organized really well and so far we still have a lot of room.

The nice thing about doing it this way - we're actually finding things we can use or have needed. I'm also finding things that I can send to my friend out in Arizona who's pregnant and due in August. Now to find the time to get it all together to send to her.

So now it's a matter of moving and organizing things. I have a feeling it will take some time, but I'd like to get the downstairs at least situated before Em's party - which is in a month! There's still a lot to do!

So Emily and I kind of rested yesterday. She was having fun rolling on the bed and crawling all over Mom! Plus she got some actual naps in! I think we may be going through another growth spurt!

She's such a trip sometimes on what will set her off crying and what will cause her to laugh. Like lately, if she's with Stephen for awhile and I walk in say hi and walk out of the room she cries. If she and I are together and Stephen comes in for a minute, she cries when he leaves. She definitely likes it when we're all together doing stuff. Then again, she laughs at the weirdest things: me putting together her chair, Stephen and I lifting the couch into the truck, me leaving her on the bed while I grab a diaper. So who knows what's going on in that mind.

Oh well, not much else is going on. We're just busy working on the house, with Emily and me driving to and from work.

Emily's appointment

2007-04-12T04:06:00.000-05:00

Took this picture of Emily the night before. Her new chair arrived and so I put it together. How does she thank me? By telling me I'm fired :D

Actually Stephen says she looks like Donald Trump does when he says you're fired in this picture - thought I'd share. She just sat and laughed at me when I was putting the chair together. Stupid directions :)

Emily's appointment was rather "non-descript" if you ask me. I'm sure Stepehen can really go into more details - it's hard saying. Basically we know for sure - she will not have any surgery in the next month or so. They told him at the last appointment she was measuring at a 67 degree curvature and this time she was only 60. Not sure how exactly that can happen - but then I think back to her joint in her thumb growing after the fact as well as her ear shape. So who knows maybe a couple of her vertebrae are growing after the fact.

That said, basically the Dr. wants to do a CT scan so that they can get a better idea of what her spine/vertebrae look like. She's thinking of fusing 2 of the vertebrae together that should hold her for awhile. Then down the line have the VEPTR procedure.

I'm really not sure about the fusing thing. I've heard nothing good coming out of that kind of surgery this early. I'm going to have to go and do some more research with other parents that have had this done.

So in all - not much to go on. Well that's it for now. Need to run.

April 10, 2007

2007-04-10T12:40:00.001-05:00

Hard to believe today is our third anniversary. It seems like yesterday we just met. It was actually April 12th (a Saturday) 2003 that we met up for our first date. There just was an instant connection between us. We both kind of knew that this was it. Although we "dated" until Christmas morning when Stephen proposed to me.

Then it was a whirlwind trying to plan the wedding. We didn't really want to wait that long and thought it very romantic to have the wedding on the 1st year anniversary of our 1st date. April 10, 2004 (Saturday).

I remember all of the planning that went into it and the perfect place to have it. Another tie to my parents (they too were married in Texas). It was nice and simple and not too many of my extended family there :)

A year passes and we have our first anniversary. It was very low key as we were busy getting things ready to buy and move into a new house. We felt the only thing missing were children. But figured that too in time would happen.

Another year passes and I'm 8-8 1/2 months pregnant. That one I really remember. Stephen wanted to take me out for dinner. I remember not feeling that well but since he had really planned this decided to go out. Food was OK but service was TERRIBLE. Bad thing to do to a pregnant lady.

And here we are now - our 3rd. Not planning much as we're busy getting stuff ready for Em's 1st birthday bash. Since she has a dr appt downtown tomorrow - we're going to carpool. Since we're carpooling, we're going to get the truck in for some much needed servicing. So Stephen and Emily will meet me after work and then we'll go drop the truck off and have dinner out. Hopefully this time will be a little better as far as service. :)

My birthday is March, our anniversary is April and Em and Stephen's birthdays are May - so we get a little carried away during this time frame.

Stephen and I decided this year, since we moved into a new house; we'd celebrate both our birthdays and anniversary by buying a grill and freezer.

So dinner and then home to bed for us since tomorrow will be long for Stephen and Emily - just normal for me :)

Easter tidings

2007-04-09T12:24:00.000-05:00

Well Easter was fairly uneventful. We got up - got dressed and I tried out my wireless remote for my camera to see if we could get a family picture. I'm attaching a picture of us - even though I'm using it as our picture on the page. It's the first one done since our July 06 picture. Now if I can only get everyone to smile at the same time :D

For what ever reason - if I'm not behind the camera Em isn't smiling. I had her smiling right before the flash went off but when the flash actually went off and the picture was taken - no smile. I hate to say it - Stephen wasn't much better..lol

We went off to church. Dropped Emily down in the nursery - and wouldn't you know it - in the middle of the service where it's quiet - there she was crying. So Stephen went down this time. Hopefully someday she'll be ok there and we both can enjoy the service.

After the service, a lady from the church had invited us to spend Easter dinner with her and her family. It was a lovely afternoon. They apparently were missionaries in Central Republic of Africa. Her husband teaches Greek and Hewbrew. Plus speaks a little bit of other languages. She taught English and did library stuff while there.

Their grandaughters were there as well. One is an accomplished artist. She is VERY talented. I was seriously thinking of asking her to do a portrait of Emily. I still may - we'll see.

Very interesting people - and I look forward getting to know more of the church folks. I wish I had more time in the evening or didn't have as long of a commute. Then I could join in some of the things - like their wind ensamble or choir.

I really could use a 3-day weekend. Unfortunately the next one won't be until Memorial Day. It's funny how these "federal" holidays are spread out. I am grateful for them - just wish we had at least one a month :D

It pays to be observant....

2007-04-06T11:40:00.000-05:00

My health insurance allows you to change doctors if you don't like them and it's usually the next month that you can go to the new doctor.

Well with us moving and Emily's health issues - I waited until I was sure I could find a doctor's office close to us that I liked. Well I emailed one and they called me back. Answered all my questions told me they had late Wednesday and Saturday morning hours. For me with no leave and a long commute - that sounded perfect.

So being proactive - I went online found the list of doctors (all at the same address - or so I thought). Waited until April 1st - got our new cards. Been having Stephen coordinate things between old doctor's office and new one's to get the referral we need for next week's orthopedic appointment. I picked one for me and used the same one for Emily. Chose a man for Stephen. Get the cards - kept forgetting to grab it in the morning so I could try and make a Saturday appointment. Been feeling a little off - want to get checked out.

I grabbed it this morning - called the office - they said to call back later becuase the system was down. So when I realized it was getting late - I tried calling again and asked if I could get a Saturday appointment. The receptionist was like "Well we don't work on Saturdays". I'm like but I talked with someone who said you did. She said the other practice has Saturday hours. Not here and I've been here for 4 years! So I had her list all the doctors in the office - and it wasn't the whole list I saw on the web. So I went back pulled up the list and saw that the dr's were in alphabetical order, but even though they had the same street address they had a different suite number. Now I felt really stupid.

So I called up my insurance and explained the situation (because I have to have an office that's either open late or on Saturdays - I'm not normally home until 6 or later!) and they were really sweet and switched me. But now, I'm still not feeling good - but they informed me they could send the office what ever they needed when I got there. So I called up the new doctor's office and explained the situation - and I'm set to go in tomorrow morning. That's what I call service!
Still, depending on how today's appointment goes - we may end up switching Emily to the same office. I would feel better knowing someone would be there on a Saturday - should we need them. We of course would wait until after the orthopedic appointment next week.

Guess it pays to be more observant!