Quick follow up to yesterday's quick note

I'll write more tomorrow, but for now I'll just let you know that it appears that Cece will not need a pre-op transfusion. So that is great news! The rest? Well, it was a comedy of errors.

More tomorrow. For right now, I'm going to go try to sleep for more than 4 hours as the eyelids are starting to get verrrry heavvvy. Good night, and thanks for your thoughts and prayers!

Just a quick note...

I've got to get to bed as the alarm is going to seem REALLY early when it goes off at 5...but just wanted to ask for your prayers for a couple of intentions.

Please pray for Abby. She is in the hospital again and it looks like it's going to be a rough week. Her little body has been beaten down so many times by all of the chemo, and she is suffering yet again. Please pray that she is not in pain and that the doctors can manage all of the many side effects that she is enduring, and also that her family can continue to have the strength they need to help her through this difficult time.

Please pray for Landon. I "met" Landon's mom on a Yahoo group for parents of kids with sickle cell disease. Landon was scheduled to have his spleen removed last week - a surgical procedure that is often needed in the most severe cases of sickle cell disease. He has been having a lot of problems and his prognosis is not good. I have not been able to get in touch with his mom, so I'm hoping and praying that all has gone well.

Lastly, would you please say a prayer for Cece? I feel almost selfish asking for this, but the reality is I'm starting to get kinda nervous about her upcoming ear tube and adenoid removal surgery. Surgery will be on March 17 and her pre-op appointment is tomorrow. I'll post any updates that we have after we get back from the appointment, but at this point I don't expect to know a whole lot more then than I do now. We'll find out sometime next week whether she will need a preoperative transfusion. I'm hoping not but time will tell.

Thank you!!! And in addition to that...how can I pray for you? Leave me a note. It's the least I can do. Blessings to you!

Rubber Duckie, you’re the one…

This post is part of "Laughter Lives! Tuesday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check our their blog to read everyone else's "Laughter Lives!" posts.

I haven't had much time to blog lately – and I'm sure all 6 of my readers have been anxiously awaiting another post! HA! Anyway, it's been a busy few weeks but things are finally settling down. I think that "Laughter Lives Tuesday" is as good a time as any to get back in the blogging biz!!!

Lately Alec has been listening to a Bible Song CD when he goes to bed at night. And apparently he really is learning something from it, as he shared a prayer with his sister and me:

"Our Father, who are in Heaven…"

"HALLOWEEN be Thy name!"

He did not understand why I was giggling my socks off.

During the weekend Cece plopped down next to me, Oreo in hand, and chowed away. When the cookie had been mercilessly devoured, she looked at me with sad puppy dog eyes and exclaimed, "Mommy, where cookie go????" That's a new ploy to get more cookies! And it almost worked!

This morning as I took a shower Cece was playing in the bathroom sink. And the result?

Duck in a cup.

My girl loves her duckies!

Abby needs your prayers

Abby Riggs is 4 years old. She's in the fight of her life against a very agressive form of leukemia. This Wednesday, she will begin the most intense series of chemotherapy treatments...treatments that she may not survive.

Would you please say a prayer for Abby? Or if you're not a praying person, at least think of her? She needs every ounce of faith and hope that can be offered for her. Although I probably only have 5 people who ever read this blog, I am hoping that perhaps each of you can ask others that you know to pray for Abby as well.

Please click the link on the right side of the screen to read more about Abby and her family. Thank you!

All's quiet...

Or, at least it has been on my blog. So here's a quick post!!!

We had a good and uneventful Christmas. No one was sick (THANKS for your prayers!) and the kids had a great time opening gifts! We spent New Year's with some special friends and enjoyed watching all the kids parade around the house with various musical instruments for "Kids' New Year" which occurred at 8 pm :-) Cece apparently did not realize that was the end of the evening as she stayed up with us until about 11:15. What can I say, she's a party girl!

Things have been a little challenging over the last few days...I believe that my darling son is 4 1/2 going on 17. Its probably just over stimulation, peculiar schedules, and the spectacular nutritional experience that the holidays bring (cue sarcasm here). And lets just say that I would NOT have won any "Mother of the Year" (or even the week) for my ability to manage these situations.

But tomorrow is another day, so we'll both try to do better. Ok, at least I will try to do better!!! And no matter what, I love him more than I can say...which I make sure to tell him, especially after we've had yet another discussion about why he shouldn't smack his sister or use an entire roll of toilet paper or leave the water running or throw his toys or...

Oh yeah, I forgot. He's 4!!!!

Happy New Year!

Last Christmas, revisited???

Despite the crazy snow/thunderstorm/sleet thing that came through our area last night and this morning, we made it to work today. Alec and Cece were the only two kids at the sitter's today, as all the schools were cancelled and all the other parents stayed home with their kids. So when we went to pick them up this afternoon it did not seem that out of the realm of normality that Alec was a little out of sorts during the day. We figured he just missed his buddies.

Not 2 hours after we got home, he was spiking a temp. 102.5, to be exact. And an hour after his Tylenol, it had not decreased. I had to call the nurse line because honestly, it has been so long since he had a fever, that all I remember how to do is take a kid to the ER once the temp reaches 100!!! (That's the protocol for Cece.) Ok, that's an exaggeration, but it really has been a long time since we've dealt with a fever that didn't mean hospital admission.

So I set him up with his pillow and blankie and popsicles and juice, and he went to bed excessively easily...oh yeah, he really IS sick. Hopefully, he feels better tomorrow. There have been a lot of 24 hour bugs going around so perhaps its nothing more than that. No other symptoms, so far.

But now comes the worry...will this be our 2nd year in a row spending the week preceding Christmas in the hospital? If Cece gets the same temp, there won't be any negotiations to be had with the pediatricians or hematologist. Into Peds she will go. I'm jumping the gun, I know, but I guess it is a mother's prerogative to worry herself to death, right?!?!

Well, it seems almost trite, especially given all that many of you who read this thing have been through...but if it isn't too much to ask could you say a little prayer that both of our kids are healthy for Christmas this year? That would be the absolute BEST present I could ask for.

Thanks, and if I don't write again before then...Merry Christmas, and God Bless you and your families!


UPDATE 12/20...(that makes it sound like a lot of people read this and it's some kind of news flash...ha ha!!!) Alec is cool as a cucumber this morning, and picking on his sister like normal. So at the moment it appears that our prayers are answered! Thanks!!!

The shades of us

We have this lovely little book called Shades of Black. I found it while rummaging through the book section at Target one day many months ago, and it has long been one of the kids' favorites. We've read it hundreds of times. I love the fact that it so lovingly and positively reinforces the experience of being Black in terms that are understandable for a toddler or pre-schooler. In my humble opinion, one of the most important things that we can do for our children is to help them to be confident and happy about who they are, inside and out.

Anyway, a few weeks ago we were chatting along, playing in the family room, doing nothing in particular. And Alec announces out of nowhere, "Mommy, Cece is Black." Not for any particular reason, I guess, just the observation at the moment.

So I asked him what color he was. He said "Black." I found this interesting, since although he is half African American, his skin tone during this time of the year is exactly the same as his Daddy's - a beautiful light brown several shades lighter than his sister's gorgeous cocoa colored skin.

I asked what color I was. He said "White." I half-expected pink, but maybe we weren't talking actual color here. Who knows. So I asked him what color Daddy was.

"Daddy is orange."

Orange?

Orange.

What does it all mean? I'm not sure. But at the very least, it means he picks up more than I realize...and it's just the beginning of these discussions without a doubt.

On a completely different note, I'm still trying to figure out what to get the kids for Christmas. They have more toys than Wal-Mart already. We'll try to keep it simple, since they won't play with anything past the 2nd gift anyway. And I will start wrapping the few items that I do have next week. Last year, I had nothing wrapped by December 21st. That was the day that Cece was admitted to the hospital with RSV. Somehow we got everything ready by Christmas but that was a lesson for me!!!

Cece is LOVING the snow we have here in Illinois. She points out the window repeatedly and says, "Look Mommy, NOWING!!!" (pronounced like "snowing" but without the "s" :-) ) She's also eaten about a gallon of snow off of her mittens as she runs to the snow pile as soon as we open the garage door. I bought her a full-body snowsuit off of eBay so she's completely covered with no chance to get a chill in those 30 seconds that I let her adventure out into in the snow. I don't have a picture yet but I'll post one soon. Think snowmobile gear for toddlers, in pale purple. It works.

I'd like them to stay 4 1/2 and 2 1/2 forever. Would that be too much to ask?