I owe you big...

I owe you big. A big, huge, long blog. I have been so slack (read: BUSY!) lately that my poor blog has suffered. I'm sure Mama Lou is the only one that has noticed....but I havent blogged much in the last several weeks. Sooo, here is what we have been doing.

The Devenny's came for Mike's 35th birthday. We had a great time and they were a lot of help to us! We went to the Dallas Aquarium




Went to Jacob's football "Super Bowl"



did LOTS of eating, and celebrated Mike's birthday. We had a great time!


After that fun weekend, we had Thanksgiving to get ready for! School is always fun for the kids that week before. Parker had his Thanksgiving Feast at school and it was sooo cute to watch him sing.

They sang a silly song about turkeys and he was cracking up during it! It was soo cute!

Then we ate Thanksgiving lunch together at school.


The weekend before Thanksgiving, Ana and I took a road trip to San Angelo to see our favorite band, Maroon 5. We had an AWESOME night and met some fun new friends


Then after seeing that picture of myself, I promptly went to the hairdresser. I HAD to do something to myself....talk about looking like a 12 year old. YUCK!! She put some dark in my hair and then my hair guy put some texture in.


Having the kids home last week was so much fun! (read: wowweweresobored) I took them to the mall one day to kill some time and the boys decided they wanted to "wear their work shirts". So they got dressed in their button downs and off we went. When we got there, the line for Santa was nonexistant and they were pretty well dressed, so I thought, what the hell..


I spent the entire day Wednesday cooking in anticipation of having a great Thanksgiving Day over at the Jordans. AT 10:30 that night, Mike got a text from Chris saying that Ana was the last victim of the stomach bug that had infiltrated their house....so I knew Thanksgiving at their house was out. We switched gears and invited the Havlovics over here for the day. We had FANTASTIC time and the kids we sooo well behaved. The comany and food was great, couldn't have asked for a better day...except if the Jordans had been able to come! ;)




We recovered from the mass amounts of food we ate and Mike headed out for golf the next day bright and early. When he came home, I went out shopping and to a movie with Ana. I scored some good Black Friday sales and we saw the movie 'Precious'. WOW...what a movie. If you have the opportunity, please seize it and go see it. Incredible acting and what a sad story!

Saturday morning we all woke up at 6 m sharp and headed for a 5K race in downtown McKinney. Jacob really wanted to do it because he wanted to get a medal, but we thought it was way too far. I figured we'd walk most of the way, but I thought even so that it was too far for his little legs. Much to my shock, we ran the whole 3 miles!! He insisted on keeping running even thought I asked him multiple times if he wanted to stop and walk a minute. We did the 3.1 miles in 33 minutes. I was amazed and so proud of him!! Unforch, I forgot my camera. Major duh!

Yesterday was the last day of the long holiday week so we took the day to decorate for Christmas. The boys went and got the tree while I decorated the house. They came home and we all decorated the tree together. It looks beautiful even though only the top part has ornaments on it! I have never had to do that before but Eden is a little maniac!! 10 bucks that the tree is pulled down at some point.....and I'm not kidding! Wild child!



Ta da!! (If you click on this picture to enlarge it, notice Parker has a bald spot on the top of his head. He got crazy with the scissors AGAIN! Dennis!!)


And lastly, baby girl has learned to smile for the camera! When I say "smile!" she says "Cheeeez!" and shows me all of her teeth. Too cute!


So there you have it....the last 3 weeks of our life. Now that I am caught up, it will be easier to blog! When I have sooo much to blog about, its hard to find the (at least) 30 minutes to do so!

I am thankful.

Oh this Thanksgiving Day I am super thankful. Thankful for all of my wonderful friends who make life so, so fun. Thankful for my beautiful home and my awesome town. Thankful for the glorious life I have! And mostly, thankful for my family. I have a mom and dad who love me and support me in everything I do. They made me the person I am and have always been there to guide me, but not control me! Thankful for my in-laws who appreciate me, for my strengths, but mostly for my weaknesses (its easy to love someone for their strengths!) For my Grandmother whom I am so close to and have a very, very special relationship with. She is one of my favorite parts of life. For aunt and uncles who I am so lucky to be so close to and I consider friends! For my husband who supports me and loves me even though I am a brat, and affords me a wonderful life. He is amazing father!! And lastly for my 3 beautiful children. For Eden who is the love of my life. She is my baby girl and my life is complete thanks to her. I never knew what I was missing. For Parker who has the most precious soul of anyone I know. He is the quirkiest, sweetest, most genuine person. And for Jacob who is the smartest, most driven (albeit stubborn!) little boy that I could imagine. When he was laid in my arms 6 years ago he changed my life forever. He made me a mom. He made me who I am.

So Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Take time to reflect....it's worth it.

For each new morning with its light, For rest and shelter of the night, For health and food, For love and friends, For everything Thy goodness sends.

Hospital

Here are some pics that I took in the hospital. The quality is not-so-good because I took them from my phone. No, I did not bring a camera with me. I honestly didn't even think about it when I was packing for the hospital. I am so glad this experience is over. I hope to never be back again!! Praying for no flare up! (which they say can happen. UGH!)

Pre-MRI

Out of MRI but still asleep. FYI....watching your child go under anesthesia is NO FUN AT ALL.

Night One

Poor baby girl!!


Eden loved looking out the window at the horsies! "Neeee!, Neeee!!!"

The phone in our room was her favorite part of the whole experience!

YAY! Brother came!!

sunday

Nothing much to update today. She is sleeping in my lap, receiving her IV meds as I type. She is such a good girl, doesnt pull on her IV lines or anything anymore. She's being a little angel! I expect for everything to go well tomorrow and for us to get out of here. Ana is coming to relieve me later so I can go home and shower. Thanks to all who have helped and sent things for Eden. We are blessed.

Eden update

Well I am updating this morning from the playroom at Children's Hospital. This playroom is amazing! When we walked in, Eden squealed and wiggled to get down. She is feeling so good, you would never know something is wrong with her!

I know most of you have had updates, but I will try to give a rundown of the last 24 hours.

Yesterday was the MRI on her hip. They saw infection in the muscle that runs along her hip, which is a condition called Myositis and also an infection in the upper part of her leg bone, which is the Osteomyelitis that they suspected when we got here Thursday. Since there was no abscess, there was no reason for surgery. They said the infection was most likely caused by a Staph infection, or possibly MRSA. They said it really didn't matter thought because the treatment would be the same either way. They started her on IV antibiotics last night.

This morning they came in for a blood draw and then we were visited by one of the Pediatric Orthopedists later. She said her inflammation markers had gone up, which was not a good thing, and then tenderness in her leg seems to be a little worse. These aren't good! She said there was a possibility they would do surgery today, but later came back and said they are going to stay with the conservative route and keep her on the meds until Monday. They will take another blood draw Monday and then if things are the same or even a little worse, they will have to take her in for surgery.

So please, if you are the praying type, pray for no darn surgery! If you aren't, cross everything you have. I don't want her to have to endure surgery! (although I know it would be fine if she did)

So until Monday we are at a stand still and there probably won't be anymore news. I will keep you posted if I hear anything. Thanks for all the thoughts, prayers and well wishes! XOXO

Eden

I am the definition of tired right now. I am just gonna blog real quick to give everyone an update and then I am headed to bed.

Last week Eden came down with a virus. She was stuffy, coughing and I could tell she was stiff so I thought she had the flu. I took her in a few times and they told me it was not the flu, just a simple virus and to keep her on Motrin to keep her comfy and that was it. By Saturday she could barely walk. I took her to the ER Sunday morning for pain in her hip and total inability to walk (we had localized it to her left hip). They did an X ray, told me everything was fine, and gave her a diagnosis of Toxic Synovitis. Sounds bad, but it wasn't. They said just give her Motrin and it should get better.

Today happened to be her 15 month check up so I took her to the Pediatrician again. He told me that they read the Xray wrong and that they *did* see something, a "spot" on the Xray and that he was "worried about it". He said she needed to see a pediatric orthopedist and needed a Cat Scan or MRI immediately. He sent me over to Children's Hospital right away. When we got there they hooked up an IV, took blood for blood work and sent her in for an additional Xray. The doctor on duty told me that she thought it was a condition called Osteomyelitis, which is an infection of the bone on the hip. She said with her elevated blood counts and the pain not getting better, this was probably what it was. It is treatable, with surgery and IV antibiotics, but that she would need an MRI to be sure. She said it is "very rare in otherwise healthy children", but of course can happen, as she thought this was what was going on.

After she came in, one of the two pediatric orthopedists that we saw today came in the room. He said the X ray was clear so he thought it was something else going on. Then the OTHER orthopedist came in and said he thought it probably wasn't an infection in her hip bone, but in the surrounding joints and/or tissue. Very confusing information! Not only did we not really know the terms they were using, but we didn't really know what that meant for Eden and we were confused at the conflicting information.

Her MRI is scheduled for tomorrow at noon and we will know more after that happens. They said they would admit us regardless because A) if it WAS indeed an infection, they would need to take her to the OR later in the day for surgery on the hip and then keep her until the infection goes away, or B) if they DIDN'T find an infection then they would still have to admit her to start the "investigative process of what the heck was going on". Kinda like House! In fact, I asked if I needed to bring Dr. House in! (which I'm sure they hear all the time and he didn't find the joke as funny as I did).

Sooo, basically it is a waiting game. Keep this little angel in your prayers, I am so worried about her! My little baby girl is too tiny to have something wrong with her! :( I will try to keep the blog updated. I will have my phone in the hospital all day tomorrow and will be texting as often as I can with updates. Thanks for your thoughts and prayers everyone...you have all been so wonderful already!!



(****edited to add.....

I cannot leave this out today. This is 'other news' BUT. Jacob received an amazing award at school today. He receieved the Principals award, which is given to one student per grade. He got it for excellence in studies, behavior, willingness to help others and just generally being an awesome student. ONE Kindergartener got it...and it was him! I could not possibly be prouder if I tried. GO JACOB!!!

Halloween!

It was the year of Vampires. We had a Vampire adult party to go to and the boys decided they wanted to dress up like us. We had fun doing it, but I don't want to see another Vampire again! I'm Vamped out....

Mama Lou and Ebby were here for the Halloween festivities and we had a ball. The kids loved seeing them and they were a HUGE help to us. Thanks guys, we love you!!