Life as a Leach

The kids love our hammock on the front porch!

I am so far behind on blogging.  Life has just been busy and I'm back to work too, so there isn't a lot of time...not to mention running the Leach Infirmary! Caleb finally went to school last Friday, and Abby came down with the fever on Sunday with vomiting on Monday.  Chloe had dental surgery on Monday and I wasn't feeling so hot myself, but someone had to run the infirmary! Things are better now and I'm hoping whatever germs these were are long gone. That being said, I wanted to share some "First Day of School" pictures! This was the first true day of school when Caleb ended up being sick.  You can tell how pale he was in the picture, but I was still holding out hope that he would make it.  I won't tell you what happened right after I took this... Healthy again! Here's to a great year in first grade, Caleb Boy!

This is Caleb's first day of school picture.  :( The poor guy came down with a nasty bug and spent the better part of the morning getting sick.  He perked up in the afternoon and I thought he would be fine to go back the next day...then the fever set in.  He is home for a second day today, and he's currently resting after completing his make-up work.  I am seriously hoping he can go back to school tomorrow!!! The teacher in me knows how important the first few days are; that is when the kids are taught routines, when they get to know their classmates and their teacher, and when they are assessed on their current levels.  But, under the circumstances, we really didn't have a choice but to keep him home.  Thankfully, he has a fabulous teacher who has assured me that she will make sure he is all caught up on everything! Here's hoping that tomorrow he will ride the bus!!!

We made it home from Philadelphia!  I didn't bring my camera with me because it was such a quick trip and I didn't want to have to worry about it while we were in the hospital (I do NOT leave it in the car!!), so I don't have any pictures to share.  But we did have some adventures! After driving 4 hours after church and hitting some traffic at the Bay Bridge (shocker) and on 95, we made it to Philadelphia with really no issues.  We stayed at the Double Tree because we didn't get into the RMH near the hospital .  Sadness.  But the Double Tree was very nice and RMH got us a good rate.  We checked in, got settled, then headed out to find the hospital so that we would know where to go in the (early) morning.  We grabbed dinner at Chipotle and brought it back to the hotel, then decided to let the kids go for a late evening swim at the pool.  After all, swimming would tire them out and make for an easy bedtime, right?   Ha!!!! I think we all finally fell asleep around 10

Happy birthday to my favorite sister!  She is pretty darn wonderful.  I did a little activity with her kids the other day where they wrote out 37 reasons why they love their mom.  I figured I would do something similar to honor her on her birthday!  Note:  37 was just a random number.  She is certainly not 37! So, in no particular order... 1.  She didn't kill me when I was a kid.  Trust me, she had every right to do it. 2.  She made me an aunt for the first time!  (Now I'm an aunt to 9 kiddos from 3 families!) 3.  Being a mom of 4 doesn't slow her down.  There is always time for at trip to Target! 4.  Amy is a good great fabulous amazing mom. She knows exactly what each of her kids needs and parents them differently to meet those needs.  I'm not sure I could handle 4 kids, but she takes it all in stride! 5.  Even when I call her bawling, she doesn't freak out on me.  Amy has definitely been there for some of my toughest, most broken moments.  And she does

Dear Chloe, We've had you for two weeks now, and you have quickly stolen all of our hearts!  You're so much more than a dog to us, Chloe.  You see, you probably don't realize it Chloe, but you are a huge symbol of normalcy for our family.  You symbolize health, less-frequent hospitalizations, and no more nursing!!  When our sweet Becky girl died right after Abby was born, Caleb was devastated.  He wanted another dog right away, but we just couldn't handle it at the time.  I promised him that we would get another dog when Abby was doing better.  So he was the one who commented on how having you now means that Abby is officially better!   Since we first met you two weeks ago, we have enjoyed getting to know you.  We see how much you love being petted and giggle when we hear that thump-thump-thump against the floor.  We're still getting used to a boxer with a tail!  It makes us smile to see how much you enjoy chewing on your antler and gobbling your food down.  (Yo

I found a fun blog theme called "52 Lists."  Each week, there is a different topic.  I doubt that I will be doing one every week (or even very often!) but it's kind of cool to do when I get writer's block. So, here are some places I want to go! *  Prague *  Alaska *  On a cruise just about anywhere *  The coast of Maine *  Vancouver Island *  Seattle (maybe we can fly into Seattle when we go to Vancouver Island!) *  Guatemala *   Austria (I've been there--Matt promised to take me again before I die!) *  Costa Rica *  Australian outback I'd say my top priority is a cruise.  It might be a while before that happens, unless I can convince Matt to do a Disney cruise!

Thank you for all of the sweet comments, emails, and prayers after my last post.  This has been very emotional for me, and it's even harder that Matt hasn't been home while I deal with it.  I'm still most definitely processing our news.   I have found myself quietly apologizing to Abby each night when I put her to bed.  Not apologizing for her life, but apologizing that I am the reason that she has to go through all of this. I've started the ball rolling for getting a chest xray.  Our insurance won't pay for it, since it's not medically necessary, so we're going through the genetic research department.  I expect that the xray would happen in the next few weeks.  It has to be done at Hopkins, so I'm hoping that I can get the xray done when we are already up there! I'm looking forward to having my husband back.  This summer, we've pretty much been apart.  That really hit me this week, and it's been a long one! I've been working on som