Life as a Leach

We got some not so great news yesterday. Our pulmonologist called last night.  (That concerned me right there--it's usually a nurse!). We got the results back from Abby's sleep study, and it showed "severe upper respiratory obstruction." She had an average of 12 episodes an hour where she stopped breathing, as well as 2 central apneas.  . We have never had anything like this show up on previous sleep studies. Our  pulmonologist is recommending cpap and /or getting her tonsils and adenoids removed--before veptr surgery! Previously, our pulmonologist was very hesitant about VEPTR. She said last night that this is all showing us that we really don't have a choice but to go for the VEPTR. We were not expecting this sort of news at all!!  This sleep study was supposed to be just baseline information for her surgery, so we were pretty caught off-guard with the bad news.  It makes me want to sleep in her room!  We have also been told to monitor her oxygen level...

Abby's phrase of the day is, "Oh!  That's so wonderful!!!"   3  examples of how this phrase has been used today: "Chloe!  You didn't poop in the house again! Oh , that's so wonderful!!!" "I have a blue dress?  Oh, that's so wonderful!!!" "I folded a napkin!  Oh, that's so wonderful!!!"

Testing out the new blogger app I just downloaded.  I think this could really come in handy in the hospital this summer!!!

The Red Shoe Shuffle was on April 6th.  This is the third annual Shuffle, and this year we were Shuffling for Smiles!  All of the money raised will go to the McSmiles Fund, which provides special events and activities for the families in the House.   As always, this was not  your typical 5K!  They have people cheering at every corner holding encouraging signs.   A boy recovering from a kidney transplant was too sick to come out, so everybody cheered for him as he waved out the window.  Kids are EVERYWHERE, and it's like a family reunion with everybody running up and hugging friends they'd made during their stay at the House.   Everybody is wearing red, and The Redder, The Better!  There are heart headbands, boas, sequins, sunglasses, tutus...it's a sea of red!   Of course, we have to be different and wear our purple!  :)  It's Abby's color though, and it does certainly make it easy to spot each othe...

Way back in October, a Living Social deal came up for 50% off a ticket to see all 4 historic ships in Baltimore:  The USS Constellation (a Navy fighting ship), USS Torsk (a WWII submarine), the USCGC Taney (survived Pearl Harbor), and the LV116 Chesapeake (a lighthouse boat).  The only one we'd visited was the submarine, and that was like 5 years ago!  We try to do fun activities that incorporate something educational when we visit places, so I figured this was right up our alley. My 7 year old history buff was 100% in his element.  Totally.  As in, running all over the ships and exploring every nook and cranny and pretending to load and fire the cannons and yelling for pirates and the helm and reading every plaque and information sheet he could find and asking tons of questions he had that weren't answered on the plaques. He was also extremely cooperative when I took pictures.  I was shocked at some of the good ones I got of him, considering ho...

Caleb's teacher has just begun chemotherapy and will be out for the remainder of the school year.  While the long-term sub is very good and we know the kids are in good hands, we will definitely miss Mrs. Kurtz!  Today is the first official day without his teacher, and I think it will really hit him when he walks in and she's not there.  One of the parents in the class made these shirts for everybody, and Caleb decided to write "Team Kurtz:  Game On!" on it as well.  He's been praying for his teacher every night!  

Have you ever read a book whose story is so familiar, but the author has such a fabulous take on it that makes it very entertaining?   Noah and the Mighty Ark  is most definitely one of those books! While it does follow the basic well-known biblical story of Noah and the Ark, what I like about it is all of the onomatopoeia and text features the author uses to engage the reader.  Here's one of my favorites (with attempts at similar font sizes!) The tiny gnat, The BIG, BLACK BEAR. From far and wide, he called each pair That crept or crawled Or hopped or flew Or stomped or tromped, or s-s-slithered too. While I wouldn't be able to read a story like this to teach literary devices in the public school, this would be an awesome book to use if you home school or work in a Christian school!  For now, this will be a fun one to read to my daughter and a great group of little ones in the nursery! I'm a Book Looks Blogger and receive complementary books in exchange...

Check out my Smile Box of our recent event with The Starlight Foundation to The Battle of the Beltway! Photo slideshow created with Smilebox

This has been a busy Spring Break for us!  Pictures are coming soon (I had a brief panic attack when I couldn't find my camera to load my pictures, but Matt found it in Abby's backpack from our day trip the other day!), but for now, I'll fill you in quickly: *  Saturday, Caleb played a GREAT soccer game that included not just connecting with the ball but kicking it toward the (correct!!) goal several times and almost getting a breakaway!!  We were so excited!  He got to pick lunch (Greene Turtle) and got froyo! *  Sunday night, Abby had a sleep study. I believe all went well, but we haven't gotten results.  This was a study to show her baseline before surgery so they can make sure all is okay post-op. *  Matt and Caleb played lazer tag with the youth group on Monday, so Abby and I had some fun Mommy-Daughter time at the board walk and playing with Peeps Playdough. *  We got to meet sweet little Baby E on Tuesday!  He is so sweet and t...

We drove home to see a package on our front porch.  Abby is beginning to recognize the packages my Book Looks books come in, so she ran to the porch to retrieve the package.  We opened the door and she immediately asked me to open the package.   (Good thing this book was for her!)  When she saw it was a board book, she begged me to read it.  I obliged.  :) With a title and cover picture like this , you can expect this to be a sweet book about the love between a mother and daughter, and it doesn't disappoint. You know the phrase, "Having a baby changes everything" that Johnson and Johnson coined a few years ago?  That's the basic premise of this little book.  Each page shares something the mom used to do before her daughter was born, and then what she does now with her.  While each activity is done a little differently now than before the little girl was in the woman's life, it's obvious that the mom wouldn't change any of it for the wor...

I haven't done one of these in forever, and probably some of you newerish readers don't even know what it is.  Basically, I write whatever I'm thinking without trying to formulate it into an eloquent statement. It will go from one thing to the next without warning.  Fun, right?!  (My sister loves these!) As a mom, it's hard when your kid feels like he doesn't fit in.  I see what a great kid he is, and I love his passion for knowledge.  But I also know he's pretty much on a different plane than most other kids his age.  He's had a lot of experiences that have shaped who he is, and a lot of those experiences aren't typical for a 7 year old.  I just hope that other kids can appreciate him and accept him for who he is.  My dog is lying on the couch.  Don't tell my husband.  She really loves the couch.  :)  I'm really ready for Spring Break.  Even though we had like a bagillion snow days, very few of them fell on days I was w...

That moment when your child realizes he is "different" from the other kids because he really isn't into sports, loves to read, finds history interesting, and adores school... I didn't think I'd be dealing with this sort of angst this early on, but I climbed on into his loft and settled in for a heart-to-heart.  We talked about a lot of things, but I shared with him how he shouldn't apologize for liking history or reading!  Love what you love and don't let anyone tell you that you shouldn't! We watched this little video clip together.  I'd seen it last week on Facebook, and I thought it was appropriate.  Will Wheaton, a sci-fi actor, answers a little girl's question about how to deal with being called a nerd. Although some of it was over his head, I paused it periodically and we talked about what he meant.  I think he got it. I have You Are Special  by Max Lucado.  I think it's time to read it again!  "You are special be...

I know I've been really quiet on here recently.  But my "free" time has been filled with JOY bags!!!  I am happy to tell you that we have had 132 bags sponsored!  This project has just taken off.  We started out just praying that we would get 50 bags, and we met that goal in TWO hours!  After buying more of the 31 Bags Drawstring Bags multiple times, we finally settled at 132 (we bought 30 more and got 2 free, which is how we got to 132!) Cathy and I have been busy buying the bags, as well as LOTS of toys to fill those bags!  Each bag will be filled with fun stuff like play dough, several books, bubbles, a dry erase board, twistable Crayola crayons, a coloring book, a cuddly stuffed toy, and much more!  We are also including a sponsor card so that the recipient will know who lovingly sponsored their bag. Our plan is to deliver some of the bags when we go to CHOP in May.  Then we will give the orthopedics department some bags to keep on hand an...