Sorry for the lack of updates. I have been sick, again. Oh boy, am I sick and tired, of being sick and tired. This has been going on since Thanksgiving, and it keeps getting passed around. I was sick on Christmas, and went to urgent care the day after. I have a sinus infection, Bronchitis and pink eye. I had a breathing treatment and was sent home with antibiotics, Robitussin with Codine, and some eye drops. I don't think I have ever had such a bad sinus infection before. It was so bad I couldn't even lift my head off the pillow in the morning. And the coughing is so bad sometimes I can't catch my breath and sometimes vomit. I have been through 5 big boxes of puffs plus with lotion and Aloe in three days and I still look like Rudolf the red nosed reindeer! It's terrible! Jason went to urgent care after I came home from there. We had to take turns. He also has Bronchitis, not a sinus infection, but strep throat! The girls are fine, I can't believe it. I am so glad though, but I feel terrible that I was miserable during Christmas and Christmas break for them. The house is a terrible mess! I promised them that we could host play dates here while they are on break from school but now that's a no. Maybe these antibiotics will kick in and by next week I'll be feeling much better.

Anyway, I want to post some Christmas pictures. We still did manage to have a nice Christmas day. I felt the worst the day after, so I am thankful that I was able to do stuff with the girls.



Here are some pictures of the girls decorating the sugar cookies the Saturday before Christmas.






Here are some taken on Christmas eve and Jason's parents house. Alexandria took a nice long nap, which did not help her to go to bed early enough that night for Santa to arrive early. Mary and Papa doing a crossword puzzle together, Mary playing some Christmas music on her Viola for us, and Anna made the programs for Mary's performance! Jason and the girls putting out the milk and cookies for Santa, and then myself and the girls!











Santa came!!!!!!

Cats love Christmas too!


Anna got what she asked Santa for!




Mary got what she asked Santa for too!



All three must have been on the Nice list!





Playing on Chirstmas day!






Grama and Papa come to visit too!

Santa and stuff

So sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I decided to take a little break from the computer in general. Things are going ok. The girls can't wait for Christmas break. We have some things planned, so it'll be nice! Jason and I went shopping for the girls gifts from Santa yesterday. It was the first time we went shopping this year for Christmas, and It'll be the last. It is really disappointing to see such crabby people throughout Toys R US, and even more annoying that the workers act as if your pulling their teeth to help you. I know they get bombarded with questions and have to deal with some mean and rude people, but it doesn't give them the right to treat ALL of their costumers that way. Oh well, we got what we needed to get for them and we were done. I will not be going over there again, and it's not just because we don't have any more money to shop.

We also went to the mall to visit with Santa! That was the high light of the day/season. Alexandria was supper excited to see him (from a distance anyway) and the other girls kept rehearsing the way they would tell him what they wanted. The only thing I could get out of Alex was that she wanted a blue present with big ribbons. Here is how the conversation went:

"Alex, what are you going to ask Santa for?"

"Ummm.....get me presents!"

"OK, but what kind of presents?"

"My OWN presents!"

"Ok, of course your own, he will get Mary her own, Anna her own, and you your own, but what do you want your present to be?"

"Ummm....a blue one with....big ribbons!"

"Ok, how about when you take off the big ribbons and blue wrapping paper, what do you want to be inside?"

"Ummm....a present for me!"

I gave up, she doesn't care I guess. We went through the Toys R US big book and she pointed to every single thing on every single page. So, I will have to make sure Santa's present is in blue wrapping paper with a big bow. Not too hard. Anyway, we only waited 30 minutes for Santa, and we were the last people he saw before he went on his break for dinner. Thanks to my good friend Michelle, we got free pictures because she knows the people who take the pictures for Santa. Otherwise, I wasn't going to buy them. I think it is terrible that they won't let people take their own pictures anymore. I think they will start charging people to just have their kids sit on Santa's lap! It's terrible, I think, to not let people take their own pictures. Oh well, it's all about the money now. Alex wouldn't sit on his lap, she was so excited to go see him, but once we got up there she was scared, she cried and wouldn't sit on his lap. I did expect her to, but oh well. Once we left to view the pictures and he got up to go to dinner, she was all about him again. Waiving and calling out his name and everything. Oh well, she still had fun!



If I don't post again until after Christmas, don't' worry. I will be busy for the rest of the days with cookies and grocery shopping and all that!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Tis the season!

Not Pneumonia!

Maybe I was being a little dramatic in my last post. I finally went to urgent care yesterday because my fever did in fact, stay high. Also, when I woke up yesterday morning my ears hurt. I was having a flashback from when I was a kid. I got ear infections a lot, and that feeling came back just the way I remember. They said my lungs sounded clear, so they didn't think a chest x-ray was necessary. She said the feeling I am getting when I breath in is just that my lungs are sore and tired and weak from all the coughing I have been doing for the past week. Both my ears are definitely infected, and I am on antibiotics. This morning I woke up with an extremely sore throat. With a flash light I can see that my tonsils are swollen, and I have some white puss pockets in there. My throat didn't hurt at all yesterday, and now it looks like I might have strep throat! URGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! I called the doctor today, and the antibiotics should cover strep throat too if that is what it is. I am not trying to breath on any of my kids today, keeping my coughs to myself as best I can, and using lots of hand sanitizer and Lysol disinfectant spray.

Here is someone who can't leave mommy alone and let me get some rest. She is always by my side, and when I am sick and lying around, she can't function either.

Will this ever end?

Still sick here. I actually think I have pneumonia! All fevers are gone, except for mine. Everyone is coughing, but I am coughing the most. I can't stop, it's ridiculous, and it comes at the worst times, you know, those spells. Anyone can have a cough, but when you get that scratch in your throat, and cough and cough and can't stop! On the phone, at the store, at an appointment! And then it feels like I will either pop a vessel in my eye, or bust an aneurysm in my brain. I am sick of it already! I am going to go to urgent care tomorrow if I still have a fever. I am almost positive I have walking pneumonia though. My lungs just feel week and tired when I breath, and when I try to take a deep breath I almost cough one up!



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Today I took Anna to Children's to get her labs done, and for a study that she is participating in. Not the withdrawal study that I have been talking about in past posts though. I have decided to put that one on hold until we know what is going on with Grandma. This one is a totally different one. It is titled "Functional Outcomes in Pediatric Liver Transplantation." It was fun for her, she played games! It took 2 hours though! I knew it was going to be long, but I couldn't even be in the room with her! I had to fill out questioners about Anna and her physical, mental, and emotional development. It took me 2 hours, I was done only 2 minutes before Anna was! I let her pick out a little something at the gift shop when we were done, and she got her daddy THIS. It was only $5 on the clearance table, and he has to wear ties at work so one more won't hurt!

When we walked outside the snow started falling. When we got the care and paid for parking it was snowing a little harder. By the time we got to the first stop light, it was coming down in big flakes. It was so pretty, but traffic was not. It took us 2 1/2 hours to get home when it would normally only take us 45 minutes when traffic is good. People were driving like they had never driven in snow before. It was ridiculous!!!!! I was so annoyed. Lucky Anna slept through all of my frustration, which was really good. She didn't need to hear some of the things coming out of my mouth anyway. To make things worse, my cell phone was dead. I had no battery power even though it had just said that it was fully charged. My phone has been acting up lately, and I am lucky when it does work! I knew Jason and his parents would be worried about us. By the time we were half way home the snow turned to sleet and the roads got really slippery. Try stop and go, bumper to bumper, highway traffic in a stick shift little Dodge Neon. Every time I had to stop (which was often) when I would try to get going I was all over the place. It was a little scary, but we made it home ok. When I walked into Jason's mom's house I could see the relief in her face. She was really worried about us, and she said Jason kept calling her to see if I had called. It sucks that everyone was so worried. That another one of the reason's that I was so frustrated on my way home. So, anyway, our driveway is like a skating rink. I swear you could put on Ice Skates and be able to skate on the sheet of ice. I won't try though. I refuse to go back out there tonight.

Gotta love winter in Chicago!

The flu, I think

So, remember when I said that we were all feeling better? Scratch that.

The night before last, I think the night I wrote my previous post, I went to bed early, a lot earlier than usual. I just felt worn out. I woke up the next morning with a temperature of 102.7! I laid in bed all day ( thank God Jason was off yesterday ). I can't control my cough at all, and I had sharp stomach pains, not to mention my whole body ached. I sent Mary to school yesterday morning, even though she woke up that night with a temperature. In the morning she was fine, and she didn't want to miss orchestra practice for a concert that was last night. Anna was fine. Alex was fine. Go figure, the two you would think should have it the worst. Anna because she is immune suppressed, and Alex because she is so little. I was able to make it ( just barley ) to Mary's first Orchestra concert last night. I was the one in the front row coughing, the one everyone hates. Too bad though, I couldn't miss her very first concert. This morning I had to call Mary in sick from school, and Jason had to call into work. Jason has it now. He is laying in bed as we speak, and he looks and feels the way I did last night.

I think it's the flu. These symptoms are very similar to the ones we had last year. I just don't understand, we all had the flu shot this year. Last year it was only Anna and Alex, and they both got it anyway. I know that the shot doesn't cover every strand of the flu, so of course we got a strand not covered. But, that doesn't explain why Anna and Alex didn't get it. Are they any extra covered because they had the flu shot 2 years in a row? Hmmm, guess we'll never know.

Game winning field Goal!

Ok, I know that I don't post much about sports. And I know that the Bears are stinking this year. But Sunday the Bears put on a good show. Very exciting game! With not much time left in the game (ok, I don't know about statistics, and I don't have a good memory, I know this could me a little more specific) the bears scored two touchdowns to tie the game, sending them into overtime. For those who don't know much about football, in overtime the first to score wins the game. Thankfully the Bears won the coin toss, and got the ball at the start of overtime. Rex Grossman (their quarterback) stepped it up and got them into field goal range. Robbie Gould kicked the game winning field goal, and the game was over! Bears win! The score was 37-34. Definitely not a boring football game! Now all they need to do is win all the rest of their games to make it into the playoffs (I think that is what Jason said, and no, I do not watch sports center).

Yay, Robbie Gould!!!!!!!!!


Go Bears!!!!!!!!!!!



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Just in cast anyone was wondering, we are all feeling better. Not 100%, but good enough for the girls to be able to go to school today!

Thanksgiving...........

It was a nice day. Jason's uncle Tommy (Grandma's brother) flew in from Texas. It was a last minute trip, he made his flight reservations when he found out about his sister's cancer. Even though it was under those circumstances, it was so nice that he was there. Really nice, he is a great man. It had been about a year and half since we saw him last. Alex was only just a year old at the time. It really made it nice for Jason's mom to have her brother there. Lynne cooked, it was delicious. I made my now famous apple pies for dessert. I made pumpkin pie too. Actually I made two of each since there 12 people there. The most we have had in years. Jason's Aunt also came with her her two sons. It has been five year since we've seen them. It's a long story that I can't get into, but it was nice to see them too, and the girls had fun with their cousins. I guess sometimes it takes something like someone being sick to pull the family closer.

The only thing that could have made things nicer would have been if Anna was feeling good. She wasn't able to play with her cousins or sisters all day. She didn't eat dinner, or dessert. She was lying around with an icky tummy. I was worried the whole time. You just never know with her, if it can be something more. She eventually threw up, but never started to feel better. I went to the store to get some Ginger Ale for her. She didn't even want to try to drink it. Everyone else seemed fine. Later, after we got home, Jason started to not feel well. Then Mary. Anna feel asleep in bed. Alex went to sleep only to wake after she vomited in her bed. Then Anna again. Mary started too. I was a very busy lady last night. I got sick, but I had to be the one to clean up after the girls. It was a very long night. There was a lot of laundry to do today. I am tired today.

This afternoon everybody started to feel better. Maybe a 24 hour stomach bug. It wasn't the food, I know that for sure. Everybody else is fine. I actually know who we got it from, but I wont name any names. I can't blame either. It's just something that happens. Just when I thought it was all better....Mary spiked a fever of 103. Nobody else has a fever, so I don't know where that came from. I just hope that everyone who was there doesn't get sick. Especially grandma. She is going for a CAT scan on Sunday. She has to drink contrast. That is just not something you can keep down when you feel the way we felt last night. Everyone planned on going to dinner with Uncle Tommy toniught, and since they all figured they had already been exposed to whatever we had on Thanksgiving day, why not still do what we had planned. We did decided to go to dinner with Uncle Tommy. Mary had taken some Tylenol and her temperature was down. I offered to stay home with Mary, but she insisted on going. She didn't eat anything at all, Anna only had a couple bites. Mary spent the whole time with her head down at the table. Maybe we should have made her stay home, but she didn't want to miss out. We got through dinner, got home and now everyone is sleeping. Jason went to his parents house to spend a little more time with his uncle since he has to leave tomorrow while Jason is working.

I hope for a restful nights sleep, and a better day tomorrow.

Apple Pie

A couple years ago Jason came home from a friends house telling me about the best apple pie he had ever eaten in his entire life. A neighbor friend, of his friend, just happened to drop off an Apple pie one day while the guys were watching football (probably why I wasn't there). I was extremely jealous beaus I am not a baker, although I try. I can make a pumpkin pie OK, from the pumpkin pie filling in a can, where all you have to do is add a couple of ingredients, mix, and bake. Cookies, break and bake, or a roll of sugar cookie dough with thanks from Pillsbury. Boxed cake mix too. I don't understand, I can cook OK, but I'm a dits when it comes to baked goods. Or at least, I used to be.

I think back to that day when Jason came home bragging about that apple pie and I still getting jealous. I wanted him to brag about MY apple pie. I have been working on finding the right recipe for a while now. One year I tried, and it was a runny mess, and the apples weren't done all the way. Crunchy apple pie? I don't think that's the way it's supposed to be! I would have just gotten this recipe from our friends neighbor, but I didn't know her! So, I tried a few more times. One day I made one, and Jason said it was the best one I have made, but I don't know if that was saying much. Tried again, and he said it was close! Tried again, still only close but still closer, but close enough, and he ate it with a lot of enthusiasm. I thought it was pretty darned good myself. I took the crust from one recipe (nice and flaky), and kind of put a couple of different filling recipes together. Pretty darned close, I'll take it! This woman was probably making apple pies her whole life, so If I can come that close to hers, I'll take it!

We had Jason's parents over the other day for dinner, with apple pie for the dessert. This how Jason's dad came into my house: It's kind of an inside joke. He couldn't get over how good it was the last time I made it!







Besides my apple pie, we had a nice evening. We had a nice time, and I got some pictures of Grandma with the girls and a nice one of Jason with his mommy.

Today, six years ago

Six years ago today I handed my baby girl off to surgery. This was the hardest day of my life. To know that your 7 week old baby was going to be cut into, for a surgery that may not even work. It could maybe just buy her more time. I had never had surgery. Mary was always so healthy too. Nothing big, medically, has ever happened to our family. It didn't seem fair that my new baby had such a tough road ahead of her. How quickly things can change in your life. Just one week before, besides being concerned as to why Anna was still jaundiced, we were just like any other happy family.

It all happened so fast. There were so many tests being done. From blood tests that our pediatrician ordered, to being sent to Children's. Anna was admitted the same day she saw the liver specialists at Childrens for more tests, Dr. Whitington was certain he knew what she had. Just a few day later a biopsy confirmed the doctors suspicions. Biliary Atresia. We were then scheduled for surgery after the weekend. It was nice to be able to go home and spend time with our baby before her operation. Sunday night she was admitted for her surgery the next morning.

That was the longest 7 hours of my life, the time Anna was in the OR. It didn't help that they had a Poud family marathon running the entire time! I swore after that day that Mary would not be allowed to watch that show again! We tried to sleep, but we couldn't. We tried to read, and I just kept reading the same paragraphs over and over because I couldn't concentrate at all. We made phone calls for progress reports to family. We never left the waiting room for fear of not being there when they wanted to give us an update, or when it was time to see her. Too bad they didn't have the pagers then for people waiting for their children to be done in surgery like they do now.

When it came time to see her, I was not prepared at all. She had so many wires coming off of her from everywhere. They had her arms in splints so that she couldn't pull out any wires. I broke down when I saw the bandage at the site where her Kasai was preformed. I didn't expect it to be such a big incision. I felt so fearful for her, I wished I was feeling the pain for her. It wasn't long before Anna got her room and we met her surgeon. We never had the chance to met with the surgeon prior to the surgery. He let us know that everything went as well as expected, but it will have to be a waiting game from here on out.

Anna's recovery went smooth. Anna was released 7 days later. It was so nice to have our baby back home and getting peachy! She would have to endure so much in the time between her Kasai and her transplant. This procedure gave her time to grow and gain weight, so that she was ready when the time came for her to get her new liver. For that, I am thankful.

Mother in law update

The results of the biopsy are in. Jason's mom has breast cancer. She has known since Halloween day, but I haven't had the energy to write on here. Also, it wouldn't have been right to post about it before other family members and friends were told. Lynne is in good spirits about it. She has either stage one or two, we'll know more once they run further tests and she sees her oncologist. She has an appointment for the 19th of this month. I will update when I get more information.

This news has really hit me hard. My mother in law is my best friend, and she means the world to the girls. Jason also took the news hard, this IS his mom we're talking about! We did tell the girls. Jason has a way of explaining things to them in terms they can understand. Alex obviously doesn't understand. Anna was ok about it too. Mary, cried, a lot. It didn't help that we had just watched the movie "Stepmom" together a few nights before we got the news. What she doesn't understand is that not everyone who gets cancer dies, and that is what she thinks will happen to her Grandma. We told her that we have every reason to hope that it will turn out to be ok. She is afraid that if Grandma looses her hair she might accidentally look at her funny and hurt Grandma's feelings. I guess I didn't realize, either, that Mary has come to the Children's with us many times, and classifies the kids with no hair as kids that have cancer. As it looks right now, Chemotherapy might not have to be done, but I can't guarantee it won't need to be. Please pray for her.

I will try to update soon, I have been working on this post for 4 days now! I have been finding it hard to sit at the computer with so much going on. Today the girls had their flu shots. Alexandria has developed a high fever. I don't know if it is a side effect from the shot, or it's a coincidence and she has some sort of a virus. She hasn't let me leave her side, that is what she does when she doesn't feel well. She is sleeping on the couch now, probably until her Motrin kicks in, then she'll be back to her normal self. Hopefully.

Halloween Pictures

The girls had fun on Halloween, they got too much candy though! Not the best thing for Any kid, let alone my child with supper weak teeth (Anna). It was a beautiful day, the sun was out and the temperature was nice. Towards the end we had to wear jackets. They had a parade at school, then we went trick or treating with our good friends Michelle and Ben, and their children Hunter and Maya. We were out for 2 hours with them, then came home and went more with Jason since he didn't get off until 6:00 that evening. Here are the pictures I took throughout the day. I think Jason wanted to look like Kenny Chesney;-)