What we've been up to...

I am floored that it is already May. The last month has simply flown by! A few things that happened in April...

We officially made it A FULL YEAR without hospitalization for Cece. (I'm not counting her surgery hospitalization, since that was planned and not due to illness!) Of course, when I mentioned that at her well-child visit this past week, our pediatrician told me to shush as to not jinx it! Yes, it will happen again...it is unavoidable. But PRAISE GOD for the months that we have had. We are so grateful.

Alec had his pre-kindergarten physical. Oh my gosh, my baby is going to kindergarten! He had to have two shots, a blood test, and the old "pee in the cup" business. Poor guy...but he made it through with just a few tears. He is measuring at the 95th percentile for height and weight. I always tell people that when he is 8 or 9 I am going to have to stand on a stool to reprimand him! When we were done we gave him a special treat and let him play in Play Land at McDonald's. I am usually not a fan of the petri dish play area but since he had three pokes, I just doubled up on the wipes and anti-bac spray. Needless to say they had a rollicking good time.

Cece had her well-child visit at the same time and is at the 50th percentile for height and weight! WOO HOO! For the longest time she wasn't even on the chart (i.e. below 3rd percentile) for weight, so it is fantastic to see how far she has come. Everything else was good, except that the doctor was a bit concerned about her flat feet. Kind of funny considering how BENT they were when she was born and how hard we worked to straighten them out during the first couple years of her life! So we'll have to keep an eye on that but in the whole scheme of things, it is incredibly minor. Once again, we are blessed.

And oh yeah, I had a birthday. It had a zero on the end. I'll let you figure the other number out...but let's just say it's not a 3. I was not really ready to leave my last decade behind but hey, my life is pretty awesome so what do I have to complain about??? Fred took me out to dinner and a movie (we hadn't seen a movie in a real-life-theater in several years) and gifted me with some money to purchase some much-needed clothes. Yep, blessed again.

Last night we took the kids bowling with an outing for families at our office.

Alec "wacky" bowling. He actually got two strikes that way...I wasn't able to get one bowling normally, even with the bumpers!

Cece was bored with the bowling after the first couple of frames, so she decided to "play the drums" (her words, not mine) instead.




But based on this shot, I'd say she had a good time regardless.

Alec working on his alphabet on the fridge. Ok, U comes before V, but so what...he did this by himself and was oh so proud!

And now I present to you...

Cece's potato song.

Sweet.

Yep, still on the face of the earth

I am a baaaad blogger. It's been almost a month since I wrote a stinkin' thing.

But for now, I am sleepy. So hopefully tomorrow I can find a few minutes to post a couple pictures of the kids from the last few weeks! Really, it has been pretty quiet around here. Boring, even.

I like boring - it means no hospital visits :-)

See you tomorrow, maybe!

A good day

This morning the kids got ready without a fight.

When I got to work, no one had taped the drawers shut on my desk, or placed Vaseline on my phone earpiece, or put plastic wrap on my chair. (It is April Fools day after all, and I do work with some crazy people.)

I didn't have to go to any meetings today. Well, one phone meeting, but I can deal with that.

I was greeted by two smiling faces at our daycare providers home, and two big hugs.

We went for a walk around the neighborhood while the kids rode their trikes. It was windy but sunny and had the scent of Spring.

Dinner was awaiting us in the crockpot. We noshed on comfort food…beef and noodles with green beans.

Alec ate the food that I made for dinner. And he even said that he loved it. This from the pickiest kid on Earth.

Cece played with stickers.

And then she let me do her hair with only a little crying…even though we were fresh out of marshmallows.

Yes, it's been a good day.

Hi/Lo Thursday!

This post is part of "Hi/Lo Thursday" on the Riggs Family Blog. Check out their blog to read everyone else's "Hi/Lo" posts and get your link on their site.

Our "Hi" this week:
Cece's surgery went off without a hitch. She had some pain when waking from anesthesia but the nurse was right on it and a little morphine really did the trick. We only had to stay one night and best of all, she completely avoided having any symptoms of a sickle cell crisis, which is a big concern with any surgical procedure. Prayers were answered all around and we are so very blessed. Thanks for all of your thoughts and prayers!

Here's a picture from the hospital on Tuesday night during some of her limited "awake" time. She's watching the Curious George movie in her crib, holding her new bunny from the awesome people in Child Life, and nibbling on a shamrock cookie. Such a little sweetie!

And here's a snapshot from tonight - Alec and Cece on their "stage" in the kitchen. You'd never know that anything had happened this week at all! They've both done so great during this little adventure.

Our "Lo":

I felt very sad for the little boy next door to us in the hospital. The room walls were literally paper thin and I could hear every word that his mother said to him. He was pre-verbal, maybe 12 months old, and she yelled at him all night. After several hours of this, I could do nothing other than pray, so that's what I did. I hope that things turn around for this family and that this child has a chance to grow and thrive.

We enjoyed a quiet day at home today. Well, quiet is a relative term...the kids ran around like normal but everyone except Daddy managed to get a nap in this afternoon!!! It was lovely and relaxing. Hope you are all having a great week, and thanks again for your kind thoughs and prayers.

HOME!

Super quick post tonight, since I am just plain sleep deprived...

but we are HOME!

Cece's asleep (or near asleep) in her bed. She ran around and giggled and jumped and did all of the normal Cece stuff today. I can't thank all of you enough for your thoughts and prayers.

In Cece's words...I happy! :-) Hope you all have a great night.

Mostly good...

Cece made it through her surgery like a champ. She went to sleep very peacefully in the ER (I was allowed to go back with her) and woke up pretty upset in recovery, but a little morphine took care of that. We are not in the Children's Hospital as they ran out of room, so instead we are in the "satellite" which is the old ICU wing of the main hospital. It's ok, although I really wish there was a bathroom in this unit...so that will be interesting tonight. We do have the most fabulous nurse who is very experienced with sickle cell patients so that is definitely a plus. The problem at the moment is that her IV clotted and now they have to redo it...which is not good....she's a very hard stick. I'm praying it's not as bad as it has been in the past.

Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts! They're truly appreciated!!!

Surgery schedule and a few pictures

We are leaving for Madison sometime this morning...well, who am I kidding, we're not packed yet so it will probably be this afternoon. I'm waiting for the call from the hospital to find out exactly what time Cece's surgery will be tomorrow morning and if I have a chance I'll post it here. I have had varying levels of anxiety about it throughout the week and have been praying for peace quite a bit. For the moment, peace is present, and being only 2 (well, almost 3) Cece is blissfully ignorant. I think it's best that way!


If you're not already following Abby's story, she is having surgery today. Please say a prayer for her and for the surgeons that will be performing her procedure. She still has no white blood cells so it is dangerous but unfortunately necessary. She's already been through so much more than any 4-year old should have to endure.


On a happier note, here's a few snapshots from the last couple of weeks!


Alec joined Cece during a catnap in our bed. So for all of those people who are always asking if they are really brother and sister...I think this covers it. It's not all about biology!


I'm bragging a little...but I was really proud of these cornrows! It's my 4th attempt over the last few months and the first one that really came out looking respectable. I redid them last night so that we will have no-maintenance hair during this week's hospital stay.



We had chocolate cake for Aunt Pat's birthday. Cece saw the cake on the counter and literally CRIED when I put it in the refrigerator and told her that she had to eat dinner first! So when cake time finally came, she dug in like the carb queen that she is and polished it off. When completely satiated with chocolate yumminess, she simply looked at me and said, "Mommy, I happy!"






How sweet is that?


UPDATE: Surgery is scheduled for 11:30. That's about 3 hours later than we had hoped for, as no food is allowed after midnight. All we can hope is that tomorrow is one of her "I don't want to eat" days as opposed to one of her "I'm going to eat everything I see" days. I just called RMC house to verify that we have a room and they are full...so I am supposed to call back after 2 to see if we have a room or not. If not, they'll get us a hotel room. We'll wait and see...