Sunday, May 29, 2005

Anna's Cousins


We went to my brother Tim's house over Memorial Day weekend. My sisters Tammy and Wendy were there also. This is a picture of just a handful of Anna's cousins. (form left to right)Joey, Krystal, Randy, Anna, Mary, and Cheryl. Anna is holding my niece Hannah, and Mary is holding Alexandria. We sure don't get together as often as we should, but when we do, watch out! It was loud and crazy, but the kids all had a great time playing, and it was nice to be able to hang out with my siblings! The babies were passed around all day, wich was nice for me and my sister in law. I didn't have to worry about getting the baby ready when we decided to take the kiddies to the park, how wierd. The girls were pooped out on the way home, they passed out in the back seats. Of course when we got home they perked right up and went right to playing outside while I fired up the grill for dinner (Jason said he wanted to cook out, I love it when I don't have to cook, and he does it so well) Anyway, just wanted to share!

Monday, May 23, 2005

My Baby is no Baby

I can't believe how much Anna has grown up in the past couple of months. First off she became a big sister! When I brought Alexandria home form the hospital I realized how very big and grown up Anna is. She looked HUGE!!!! Then she got her first birthday party invitation from a friend at Ballet. It's not like she's never been to a birthday party before but they're always from family, or friends of the family addressed to all of us. This one came in the mail in her name, just for her, and she was just ecstatic. You could tell she felt "cool", like her big sister Mary who in the past couple weeks has received two invites from friends. This couldn't have come in at a better time, she didn't have to feel left out again. On the day of the party I thought for sure Anna would be super excited, but she played cool. I would ask her if she was excited about the party and she would be so nonchalant about it, like it was no big deal, like she does it everyday. When I dropped her off I was the one hesitant about it. I thought she would be clingy and maybe not even want to stay, but it was me who was clingy and not wanting to leave her there. I was finally convinced by the little girl's mother that Anna is fine, and will remain fine, and that I should leave. Of course when I finally left I cried. I'm not sure if it was because I was happy that she is growing and HEALTHY, or because I felt like I was loosing my baby (aka, big girl). So I pick her up from the party and ask her if it was fun and what did she do, and she is still cool about the whole thing. She just sounded annoyed that I kept on asking her when clearly she didn't want to talk to me about it. It wasn't until after we got home and she was talking to Mary about the party, that I knew she actually had a blast! They sounded so cute talking to each other like they were best friends!

Also last week Anna got her costume for her dance recital, and she looks just darling in it! It's pink (Anna' favorite color) with sequence or "sprinkles" as Anna would say. They are dancing to a song called "Oh What a Miracle Am I". Is that just perfect for her, or what? She has got the dance down, and she she knows what to do. She told us that she is ready to dance on stage, but I wonder if when the time comes will she be out there with the rest of the dancers from her class? I hope so, Jason thinks she'll be just fine. But without me? (sob)

I am so glad, and thankful to God, that Anna has the chance to go to birthday parties, be in a dance recital, and just be able to be a kid without any worries. I have to let her grow up. She is not a babie anymore, but she will always be my baby.

My "Big Girl"

Sunday, May 15, 2005

Weaning doing great!!!!!

Well, it's been a little over two weeks since we started to wean Anna down on her immunosupressants and it's going very well. We had a little bit of a scare when after one week, Anna woke up in the morning and wasn't acting herself. She is usually real chipper, ready to start her day and wants to eat breakfast right away. She woke up and just wanted to lay down on the couch and watch T.V. No breakfast or anything, complaining of a tummy ache and just wanted to sleep, and did so to the point that I couldn't get her to wake up and stay up. I called her docs and they didn't seem too concerned since she didn't have any other syptoms. Of course I was worried to death, so they went ahead and called in some lab orders to our local hospital. Turned out that right before we left Anna used the bathroom and had the runs, probably the problem. After that she was fine and back to herself, but of course we went ahead and did labs anyway. Thank God they came back perfect, and the worry was gone. We went ahead and repeated labs the other day, and everything still looks great! Now we don't have to go back for another month unless something comes up.

Normally I wouldn't have been worried, but since we just started to wean her Prograf I was extreamly nervous and still am. On the up side it looks like Anna's exzema is clearing up! I think she had it so bad because of being on Prograf, I have noticed a lot of kids post transplant have this skin condition. It seems now that since she is on a lower dose her skin looks a lot better, and less itchy! Anna has also developed a cold and cough, but with her labs looking so good, nobody is worried (well maybe I am a little, I can't help it!)