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!!!!!!!!!!!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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;-)

Fun Fair

It was fun fair night at the girl's school Friday night. Unlimited games, face painting, a big bouncy, a maze and bake sale. They had a blast. But of course, once again, my camera lost battery power. I don't understand why my camera sucks up this much battery, it's not even a very good one! I was able to take a picture of the girl's faces when we got home with their little 1.2 mega pixel cameras! The guy that was doing the face painting used to paint faces for Cats! He did it, it was worth the 40 minute line for sure! Mary got a Tiger face and Anna got a butterfly. Of course Anna's makeup was just about wiped off by the time we came home, but Mary was very careful about her makeup.






Alex was not feeling well at the fair, and was not up for face painting at all! She did, however, stand in line like a very good two year old. That is not in her character though. I expected to have to chase her around, I told the girls not to follow me if I took off. Poor baby, when we got home she felt warm. I took her temperature and it was 102.2! She continued to have afever through the night, and all day Saturday. Today she is fine, she must have just been fighting off a bug.



*I started this post Sunday afternoon, it is now early Monday morning*


This morning I dropped my Mother in law off for surgery. She is having a biopsy done on a lump that is directly under her left breast. The surgeon we saw last Wednesday wanted to get it out and biopsied as soon as possible. I did not see this coming. She just had a PET scan done last April that found a mass in the middle of her chest. It was biopsied and found to be benign. It was such a relief. But, it's only been a few months since then, and she is going through another biopsy. The surgeon said that he really didn't like the feel of this lump, and it needed be taken care of right away. To see the surgeon on a Wednesday, and have surgery scheduled only 5 days later is scary, but I am so grateful that he is on top of it. Please say a prayer. She should be able to go home later this afternoon, and results won't come back until this Wednesday afternoon, or early Thursday. Depending on the results of this biopsy, we might hold off on the study I talked about in my last post.

Medical Studies........

I got a phone call yesterday from one of Anna's liver doctors about a couple of studies she wanted us to participate in. The first study is a tolerance study. It's titled, "Immunosuppresion Withdrawal for Pediatric Living Donor Transplant Patients". This study seeks to understand if it is possible to slowly reduce and then completely stop your child's anti rejection medicine safely and find out if there are blood tests that can help transplant doctors in the future identify transplant patients who may be taken off of their anti-rejection medicines without developing rejection."

This is a study that was brought to our attention a couple years back. I was all for it when we first started discussing it, but since they wanted Anna to be on her once a day dose of Prograf for at least a year (which at the time, we were just starting) we decided that we would wait for her next appointment, next year, to really talk about it. Well, when Anna had transplant clinic last March it was indeed brought up again. I wanted to say yes right then and there, but I didn't have Jason with me and I wanted to discuss it with him first. We were given the information on the study when we left. After reading the information the cons outweighed the pros. We read things in this study information that scared us, and we had many more questions to ask. The main thing that worried us was the possibility of rejection. Anna has never had to deal with rejection, so why put her in harms way now? Also, this would require Anna to have a biopsy before the study starts. After that, Anna's medication will be slightly lowered every two weeks along with biweekly labs. Once she is totally weaned off of her medication, she would continue to have biweekly labs for 6 months, then monthly labs for 3 years! I wondered how Anna would deal with this. This was my dilemma, if Anna was having trouble taking her medication, or having some of the side effects from it, or if she was constantly getting sick (because this medication suppresses her immune system), or even problems with her kidneys from being on it for so long, this decision would be easier for us. We decided to hold off, until Anna's next appointment so that we could discuss this further with Anna'a doctors.

So, back to my phone call yesterday. Imagine my surprise when, out of the blue, Anna's liver doctor calls me. Of course my first thought was that there was something wrong with Anna's labs. But since it has been over a month since she last had them done (she gets labs every 3 months), and I was already told they were fine....anyway, the liver nurse is usually the person that calls! She has been meaning to call me for some time now, but she is a busy lady. She didn't waste anytime (she is a very busy woman you know)! We discussed my concerns and she answered my questions. She has always had a way of making me comfortable about Anna's care. She reassured me that the risk of rejection in so small, and since she will be monitored very closely, if there is any rejection it would be treated easily. We can withdrawal from the study at anytime, and she wouldn't blink an eye. She thinks that Anna would be one of the best candidates for this study. In her words, "Anna is a superstar! If anyone can do this, it is her." Then my next concern is the biopsy, but the doctor reminded me that Anna will be due in March again for a biopsy anyway. I forgot to ask if this would require additional visits to transplant clinic, and that is something I will e-mail her about today, along with a couple other small questions I failed to remember to ask. Usually, I would have a list, but I never expected her to call me! We also discussed this with Anna last night. She is totally fine with it. Jason did a great job at explaining things and answering her questions about it. Her only concern is missing school. Since she is in afternoon kindergarten, we would gets labs done either in the morning, or on Saturdays. Her biopsy would probably have to be done on a week day, and yes she would miss school that day. Of course, in the case of rejection, Anna would miss a few days if she has to be treated inpatient for that. It depends on the severity of the rejection, and again the risk is there, but it is minimal. Anna has always been fine with blood draws, she actually sits there with a smile on her face. She even thanks them when they're done. Actually, she has always been fine with everything medical in her life. She has done this stuff since day one.

Our decision, if you haven't guessed it already, is yes! It is always something that has interested us, something we always wanted to do. How cool would it be that Anna not have to take any medication, at all, after all of this! After all we have been through. When Anna was first diagnosed I knew our lives would never be normal again. I worried about Anna's quality of life. Now, six years later, Anna has a farely "normal life" Also, if people never participated in studies like these, where would we all be right now? I think of the first person that gave the ok to do the Kasai procedure on their baby. This procedure gave Anna much needed time to grow before she needed her new liver. In some cases, the child does well for years without a transplant. I went on to think of the first transplant, the first split liver transplant, the first pediatric liver transplant.....the first living liver donation transplant! I don't know if Anna would be here if it weren't for living donation!

Since I have been torn for, I guess about two year now, it seems a little strange that we are going for it now. It was the talk with Dr. Alonso that has pushed me. It's not like I was pressured into this at all. I just think that we are at a point in our lives that we are just ok with it. Both Jason and I have that feeling deep down inside, that Anna will do fine. Be fine.

I will update when I know what the plane is. Wish us LUCK!!!!!!

Early Holloween!

I know I should wait until Halloween to post pictures of the girls in their costumes, but I couldn't wait! They look so darned cute! There was a Halloween party at the park district building here in town last night. I wasn't going to go, but I was convinced by a friend who was taking her kids too. Since I didn't have Anna's snow white wig yet, I had to run to the Disney Store to pick one up. I was pleasantly surprised to see that all of their Halloween stuff was 40-50% off! So, I got a wig for only $6.50! Then I had to try to get the kids ready, and since I wasn't planning on going in the first place, I was rushed and flustered, but I figured it's better to get more than one wear out of the costumes.. It turned out that I had all three of my girls ready before my friend Michelle had her two ready. They both had pirate costumes on, but they didn't have to get their hair done. Here is a picture of all of them getting ready to go to the party.

Mary was Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Caribbean, Anna was snow white, Alex was a pretty ballerina (Anna's old recital costume), and both Hunter and Maya were pirates.


They had a blast. There were games, trick or treating, a costume contest, and a magic show! They had many different categories for the costume judging. I thought for sure Alex would win in the prettiest baby, or prettiest costume categories. I know she is mine, and it's my Job to think this, but compared to all the other babies, she was by far the prettiest, the cutest, and her hair wasn't all over the place. I worked so hard on keeping it that perfect bun. It's not like I am one of those pageant moms, but I really thought she should have won that cheap plastic trophy! Actually, all three of mine should have one! Anna was pissed, even though there were so many snow whites, nobody else had the wig, or the red lipstick! HA HA! Same with Mary, there were so many other pirates, but she had the best, and she was the only Elizabeth Swan Pirate!

Happy Birthday to me!

Well, today is my Birthday! Happy Birthday to me!!!

So, guess what I got to do today? I got to wake up at 6:00 in the morning to get ready to drive into the city for an appointment at Children's for Anna to get filling number 7 and 8. I don't think I have had that many cavities in my life time ( I'm not giving out my age for anybody who doesn't already know)! Her appointment was at 9:00 in the morning, and it took two hours to drive through traffic! If I was smarter I guess I would try to find a local area pediatric dentist to take care of my 6 year old's very weak teeth. I just really trust children's with all of Anna's care. If anything were to happen we are right near the main hospital, and they have her medical charts and everything. They are so good at this dental office, we have never had a problem. They just know how to deal with kids, and they are used to taking care of kids with medical problems. You can't get an appointment unless the child is already a patient at the hospital, or you are a sibling of that child.

Anyway, it still doesn't stop me from being totally fed up with Chicago traffic, and trying to wake a sleeping child who really values her sleep (just like mommy)! We did however make it out of the house on time to stop for coffee and hot cocoa! We made it there on time, we had the first appointment, and Anna was as good as gold, again, as always! That is one part that makes it so much easier on me, and the dentist. She even got three stickers, a toy, and a little book because the dentist and his assistant were so grateful to not have to fight with her. That's my girl! Apart from the morning traffic, everything ran smoothly!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since Anna couldn't come to visit baby Noah last Saturday, we stopped by Jenny's house on the way home. Anna was in love, just as Mary and I were when we visited him in the hospital! She couldn't get enough of him, it was sweet. I just had to make sure to sit close to her while she held him because she was just a little on the rough side.

She wants a baby borther now!

Baby Pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For those of you who didn't get the chance to read my other posts:

My best friend Jenny, had a baby today. He was named Noah Gregory, and he weighs 7 pounds 11 ounces, and is 20 inches long. Mary and I were able to visit with Baby, Jenny, and proud Daddy today. Mommy, and baby are doing well. Daddy is as proud as can be, and I know Brandon was excited that his baby brother is finally here. Nine months is a long time to wait! It was a wonderful experience, as it has been nine years since Jenny's son Brandon was born. Jenny and I have known each other since high school, and have grown closer over the years. Mary and Brandon have been friends since they were babies, and will hopefully always know each other. Jenny is the kind of friend who is always there for you, and never expects anything in return. My girls love her, I love her, and I am so proud to call her my friend. Congratulations Jenny, Brandon, and Mike! Noah is so beautiful, and I can't wait to watch him grow up!

*I do realize that my camera's date is so wrong, probably due to a certain 2 year old that we all know....*

He is here!!!!!

Noah Gregory was born at 2:10am on Saturday October 13, 2007. He weighs in at 7 lbs. 11oz. and is 20 in. long.

I've hear he is beautiful, and looks just like Jenny!

Mary and I are going to visit both babies this afternoon! I still have to go pick up my camera, but I promise pictures soon!

Yay, baby day!!!!!!

(P.S. If you happened to miss what is going on, read the two previous posts.)

One down, one to go!!!!!!!

My niece made it safely into the world this morning around 10:00 am. Christina Elisabeth was born by c-section. My brother and his wife are now holding, and loving on their 6 pound, 5 oz baby girl as we speak. I will go visit tomorrow morning, hopefully with my camera so that I have a picture to post soon.

Jenny is still waiting. She went in at 7:00 this morning to be induced. She has been on pitocin for hours now, but hasn't really dialated much. She was in labor with her first for something like 36 hours, but that was nine years ago. Lets pray that it won't be this long her second time around. I haven't spoke with her directly, I am waiting on updates through her mom because I don't want to bother her while she is contracting. I know I didn't want to be on the phone much while I was in labor. I think Jenny's mom said the contractions are 3 minutes apart now. I'm sure I won't update until she has had the baby. Hopefully I can visit them tomorrow and take a picture of a healthy baby boy, to post soon.

Anticipation

For what??????

Not for my baby to be born ( and before anyone starts to question it, I'M not pregnant). But, I do know how terrible those nine months can be when all you want to do is meet your child.

My best friend was due on the 4th of this month with her second boy. Now she is five days past her due date. I call her daily (sorry Jenny) to check on her. I know she is tired of getting phone calls from everyone (including me) asking her if she had the baby yet, I remember those calls. It's like you wonder, don't they think I'm anxious too!!!!!!!! I am almost as excited as Jenny is, I swear I must be, I have to be, it's on my mind all the time! This baby will be just like a nephew to me (as is her older son Brandon). Anyway, Jenny went to the doctor today and she will be induced on Friday the 12th! Hopefully this baby won't give her a hard time, and come out nice and fast!

So, the 12th is a good day for baby's to be born I guess! My sister in law is scheduled for a c-section that day too! This one biologically my niece ;)! Her name will be Christina Elizabeth (or Elisabeth?). My middle name, Elisabeth, is spelled with an S, if you didn't notice. And no, my brother is not naming her after me. But...well...sort of I guess. My Mom's middle name is Elisabeth, as was my Grandma's middle name, and my little sister Deborah. So, it's a family name. I'm just not sure which way it will be spelled and I guess it would depend on the way it is spelled.

Aren't I the lucky one! I get two babies born in one day, assuming they both hold on that long! The best part is, it's not me this time! Sure, I love being pregnant, I love new born babies, but I've been there done that. Now I get to enjoy being on the other side, you know?

So, to get along with the post, since it's on the topic of babies, I will include a baby picture of Alex. Just because I don't have a scanner, or a camera to take a picture of a picture of Anna and Mary as newborns ( I left it at Jason's cousins house last weekend). So, it's just Alex because that's when I got my digital camera. If I get permission, I will post pictures of my new nephew, and niece. I'M SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Proud Mommy stuff!

Anna's school pictures came out pretty good! Somehow we only received Anna's pictures and not Mary's. Actually, the photo lab messed up more than loosing Mary's pictures. Anna's background was just supposed to be basic grey, not green, but actually I don't mind the green. I could send them back and have her take retakes, but i don't want to do that just because the background isn't the right color. With my luck her eyes would be closed in the pictures they takd on retake day. I don't know what's going on with Mary's pictures, she might have to go on retake day. Anyway, here is Anna's picture.




(click to enlarge)

But, I do have a proud Mommy thing to use for Mary. Last year in third grade Mary took the ISAT (Illinois Achievement Test) tests for the first time. Actually, she missed the whole week of testing because she was sick with the flu that whole week. She was able to do makeups, and she was so sick with nervousness about sitting in a room on her own and not doing them with everyone else, that I thought for sure she wouldn't do her best. Turns out, I was wrong. Mary exceeds Standards in both Reading and Mathematics. In National comparisons, in reading Mary did as well or better than 79% of students national, and in Mathematics, 88%!








`
And Alex, I'm always proud of my Alexandria Rose. She just doesn't get school pictures or test results from school. She sure is growing up though. Although I am still waiting for her to potty train, she is so supper smart. I know that she can use the potty because she stayed dry for two days when we first started. She just chooses not to use the potty. She can sing her whole alphabet, has a huge vocabulary (sometimes too huge) and can sure play dress up, and dresses herself when she plays. She can count up to 15, sometimes missing a number or two, and up to ten in Spanish, Thanks Dora!

Happy Thursday!

Why am I happy today???????????

My two favorite shows have their season premiers tonight! Greys Anatomy and ER!!!

I don't know why I am into the medical shows so much. Everyone thinks it is because of Anna, but really I loved ER before Anna was born, and Strong Medicine, and Chicago Hope. I could never get into any of the Law in order shows or anything. Although, last night I watched Private practice, a new spin off of Greys Anatomy. I have to admit, I could get addicted but I will try not to. I am not one of those people who has a show to watch every night or more, and has to TiVo them. I don't even have a TiVo because that would be trouble for me. Because I could be one of those people. One night, back to back shows, that's all I can do. I can't afford to become addicted to other shows! I make sure the girls are in bed, and I watch. No one is to bother me. Should I feel guilty? I don't think so, but sometimes I do. I put them to bed early, so that I can watch a show or two. It's not like I'm hurting them by watching my shows, I even let them put a movie on in their bedroom (so that they don't bother me). HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!

Well, the Birthday week is over. The girls have had a fabulous week full over birthday celebrations! Monday we went to Giordano's with Jason's parents. Aside from them screwing up our order and having to have the Birthday girl's wait for their peperoni pizza, it was fun.

We came home (stuffed) and had cake (which I had to force down my throat) and the girls opened their gifts from Grandma and Papa. I originally made a cake for the girls, but somehow while I was frosting it, it fell apart. It was so bad that it was unsaveable. Since I waited till that day to make the cake, I didn't have time to attempt another one, so I had to go buy one for $13.99. Otherwise, the cake mix and the frosting barley reached three dollars. Oh well, I tried.







I would have taken more pictures, but of course my camera ran low on batteries and I didn't have anymore on hand. I really hate when that happens because I am all about taking pictures! And, speaking being camera happy, the girls have been taking many pictures with their new "digital camera's." They have taken a lot, and most of the time they don't turn out very well, but once in a while you'll get pictures like these that makes it all worth while:









They took their camera's outside and obviously forgot to take any of Anna! Mary and her friend were too involved with taking pictures, and having pictures taken of themselves with Mary's webkinz and Brianna's (Mary's nieghbor firend) guinni pig. Uncle Victor came over Sunday to watch the Bears, and that picture up top of Mary with him, Anna took. I love how the girls possed the barbie dolls for a photo shoot! And the poor cats, with the wbkinz.

Tuesday wasn't really celebrated, unless you want to count a trip to the Dentist the day before Mary turns 10, a birthday celebration. It wasn't bad this time though. Mary cooperated for once, so that helped. Anna has two more cavities. This makes 8 cavities in her 6 years. When Anna opened her mouth for the Dentist, he took one look and wanted x-rays. I knew this wasn't good. So, we go back next month, on MY Birthday of course, to get fillings. They also let me know that Anna doesn't have much room in her mouth for all of those teeth that are coming in, so they WILL grow in crooked. She WILL need braces in the future and possibly some teeth pulled to make room. The poor girl, and of course it has to be her that has dental problems, right? Mary's teeth are perfect though. Thank God, because she could not handle fillings.

Tomorrow we are going for labs and a 24 hour urine creatinine clearance test. Today I am collecting all of the urine Anna passes and keeping it in my fridge in a container clearly marked so that no one mistakes it for apple juice. YUCK! This test is done to monitor kidney function of children who have been on medication that can affect kidney function. I'm sure it will turn out fine though!

My Birthday Princess'

Anna's 6th Birthday was yesterday. I really wanted to post, but I was having trouble with my Internet. I can't believe my beautiful girl is 6 already. She has been through more in her life than most people go through in a lifetime. God bless her, she is just a perfect little girl.

Also, my older little princess, Mary, will be 10 next week! I have no idea where those 10 years went. Double digits, that's a big deal! She is starting to act like a preteen, let me tell ya!

We did things a little differently this year for them. We usually have two separate family parties for them on their original birthdays so they have their own special days. I am so over that! It just didn't work out conveniently this year, so we decided to just wing it.

Yesterday for Anna's birthday Anna and I made cupcakes for her class. I was also classroom helper mom. It was nice to watch Anna in the school environment, see how she acted with her teacher and classmates. I got to watch her friends sing happy birthday to her and them all indulge in their cupcakes, along with Anna's teacher! I will do the same for Mary on her Birthday!



Today we decided to let the girls go on a shopping spree. They had a blast! Usually when we go to the mall they aren't really allowed to buy stuff for themselves because we are usually there to go shopping for things we need or birthday parties, and stuff like that. They shopped the sales! Of course we gave them a spending limit, but they got a lot more for the money than we expected. They each got an outfit (pictured below), a necklace from the Limited Too that have their first initials on it, a digital camera (those little Disney ones), a webkinz, and Anna got a pair of shoes. The digital camera's work ok, I guess I expected a little better. Here are some of the pictures that the girls took:



I asked them if they wanted to take the camera's back, but they want to keep them. I quess they just like knowing that they can take pictures on their own.

Here is a picture of them after their "shopping spree"


Check out these outfits!


Moday we are celebrating with Jason's parents. Again both Birthdays at the same time. The girls gave Grandma and Papa some nice long lists. I really hope they don't get them everything they asked for! So, more pictures to come!