History

Thursday, September 18, 2008 2:00 PM CDT

Here's looking at 5 years and still going strong and here's to MANY, MANY more......

Go here to see pictures and all.....
Notes From The Dungeons

Blessings......

Saturday, September 13, 2008 4:34 PM CDT

greetings faithfull followers,
Well we have had a busy week trying to get things back to normal here.
The kids returned to school on Monday. I think they were all ready to do so.
We went to the doctor for my husband on Thursday and well not much news..just that all the test came back negative, so they still don't know what is wrong....did another CBC and his Hemoglobin was still low at 8. So after we got home, I got to thinking that maybe we should go to a hemotologist. So I tried to call and make an appointment on Friday. Well when they called me back they said they had a cancelation today do you want to come in now? So off we went Friday to the hemotologist.
So long story short...he took 4 more vials of blood to run some other test and on Friday the 19th he will be going in for a 4-6 hour infusion of iron. We will return to him again on the 9th of October, in the mean time I think he is going to return to work on the 1st of October. They told us that he should be able to feel a big difference about 2-3 days after the infusion. I am really praying that this is all that it is and that he just needs some iron put back into his body.
I also had blood work done to check my cholesterol and triglycerides. Well my cholesterol is still a little high at total of 220 and ldl of 125, but my triglycerides well they were 316!! Still high, high cholesterol runs in my family, but he said he would give me 3-4 more months to try it on my own since I just joined the gym, but if it doesn't change by next check he will start me on something. I pray that I can do this on my own and have it stay that way, but like I said it runs in the family!!

Well I know that I have been neglecting this site some with pictures and stuff...but to be honest it is just a pain to put pictures up on here so...I have been keeping another site more just for fun, there are times when I put more pictures up there, but not as much family and medical, I am thinking of maybe putting more of that stuff up there too, so for now I'll give you the address and you can hop on over to the other site.......

here it is: Notes From The Dungeons

It is way easier to put up pictures there.....
but for now I think I'll keep both of them going.

Friday, September 5, 2008 8:54 AM CDT

Thigs here are slowly getting back to normal. We had no damage to our house and luckliy lost no trees this time. I have to say that we were one of the lucky ones who got power back on on Tuesday afternoon. Some of our friends who live close by us still don't have power. My mom and dad are still out of power, hopefully it will be restored today. The stores are only open for a few hours durring the day and most of them are out of a lot of supplies, after about 4 stops yesterday I was able to find some milk for the kids. I had to take the kids to the doctor yesterday, they all have the yucky noses and croupy coughs. This is the one thing that I hate most about living here...hurricanes and I have to say that for as long as I have lived here these (Katrina and Gustav) are the only two that I really ever remember hitting close to us, now I know that there were more, but they were before I was born...My mom was pregnant for my brother in Betsy, that was in 1965.
Any way I'm ready to get things back to normal, that is what we need around here...my kids need the structure. I need my husband to go back to work and a routine to be established!!! Which he goes back to the doctor on the 11th so hopefully he will be much better.

Well I hope to update again with happier news, but then agian there is no gaurentee around here.... ;0)

Saturday, August 30, 2008 8:44 PM CDT

Greetings faithful followers and prayer warriors....
Well first let me say a special thanks for all your prayers. Amelia had her counts done on Thursday afternoon and we got the results Friday morning, her platelets went up to 36!!!
Tyren had his scopes done and there was no bleeding, but he definatly wanted him on a stong medicine becasue he has some esophagus errosion, very tiny but he wanted him to stay on the prescription one. So there was some good news that at least he wasn't bleeding any where. Now I am just hoping that his iron is just low and that is all there is too it and he will be better as soon as these iron pills kick in!

OK..so here we are once again..in the path of another serious storm, we are not going any where. One we have no where to go and can't really afford to go any where. This time due to my husband being out sick he was not called in to work, so he will be here with us this time. My mom and dad are staying at their house and Tyren's parents are right up the road. the only thing that we are worried about is the trees around our house...I don't care that they fall just please don't fall on the house...anything else...I don't care about.
It is 650 miles south of New Orleans, by tomorrow it is supose to be a catagory 5.
Please remember us in your prayers we are not going to be on the good side of this thing. It looks as if we are going to be on the east side, with the eye passing just a few miles away from us. If I can I will do my best to update, I have a laptop, but with out electricity I doubt the wireless will work.

Thanks in advance for all your prayers.......
Blessings....

Friday, August 29, 2008 12:52 AM CDT

I'm at the out patient surgery center, they just took Tyren back should be out in about 45 minutes. I'm watching Gustav on the news...They just cancled school for Tuseday...I'm not looking forward to being home with all of them in bad weather with hyper nervous kids and a weak husband so think of us over the next few days....I'll update later...I'm praying that nothing comes this way...

Blessings...

Wednesday, August 27, 2008 8:23 PM CDT

Greetings faithful followers
Well so far the news on my husband is that he has no iron in his body. The docs seem to think that he is bleeding somewhere in the GI track, so on Friday at 12:30 he will be having a scope of both ends. On Saturday we will start the iron tablets. For now he is off of work till the 15th of Sept. We go back to our regular doctor on the 11th.

In the mean time, there is a hurricane heading into the gulf by sometime this weekend...please pray that it doesn't come this way. I really hate to see anyone get it, but with every thing going on here I really don't want to see it.

I am also going to try to have Amelia's CBC done hopefully tomorrow...so keep the prayers going for her too.

I have a few more things but it's time to put the kiddos to bed.
Oh and just an update...I have been going to the Gym every morning!! yay for me..the kids get on the bus by 6:30 and I am out the door by 6:45 and to the gym in about 5-8 minutes as it is only about 5 miles down the road...and I am loving it..I usually walk on the treadmill for 1 -1.5 miles and bike 3.5-4 miles every day!!

Friday, August 22, 2008 6:49 AM CDT

Prayer Request....
Faithfull followers,
I need to ask for prayer request in quite a few areas, first bare with me I'm running on 2 hours sleep. First prayer request would be continued prayer for Amelia and Marshall and you can throw Nathan in there as right now he and Marshall are suffering from the crude!!! Marshall also that things at school get better. The other day, he was attacked in the class room by another student and hit the ground and has a big knot above his left eye, he is fine and he was minding his own business doing his work and this kid walked next to him and said to him,"why don't you just shut up!" Marshall just looked at him and said "why don't you shut up!" The kid walked past him then turned around and came at him from the side...this kid is a punk!! This is suposed a friend of the kid that was picking on him the first few days of school....Not sure if I told you that story if not I will get to it later this week.

Second prayer request is for my husband Tyren...We were in the ER most of the night and so far we have found out that he has a blood clot in his left leg, the good news is that it is not a deep vein thrombosis, of course the er doc said left untreated and things could turn into a DVT. What we did find out and we have no idea why is that his hemaglobin is 8.0, which is extreme anemic he is very close to needing a transfusion, we have no idea why this is so, but we are to make an appointment with out doctor and go from there, I am sure we are in for a lot of blood test and a possible bone marrow biopsy for him.
I try really hard to find the humor in these situations...this morning I'm not in a laughing mood..I'm skipping the gym (which I have been going too every morning!!) and heading for a nap...we got in at 2am and I got up at 5:30 and sent the kids to school.....
I will keep you posted on all fronts.
Blessings.....

Saturday, August 16, 2008 8:00 PM CDT

Well as promised here are some pictures of the kids and their first day of school together.....

Looking forward to them all going back on Tuesday...I'm going to the Gym!!!

Friday, August 15, 2008 10:35 PM CDT

well this will be a little short and sweet. Amelia had a first great week. Still no results from the bone marrow biopsy. I e-mailed Minnesota about some results, but they said that our local hospital was doing testing on some and would get me the results...I have a fear deep in the pit of my stomach that, that is not happening here...i have a fear that they only took what Minnesota needed....I'll call them on Monday, if that is the case they will not be doing another on for a while!!! I am not going to put her through that.

Marshall, well his week has been quite different. I have to say though he has handled it pretty well. Friday (last) he came home and he was all upset and to the point where he was almost in tears, well of course that only made me in tears. I had to call the principle. There was one kid that Marshall had in every class except his ROTC class, which, by the way, he loves!!! This child had picked on him all day long calling him names and making fun of him and calling him a retard....They switched his classes around and Monday he only had him in two classes, Monday was a great day, but Tuesday, Wenesday and Thursday was much of the same. Well by Thursday 7th hour, Marshall had had enough and went over and hit him in the back of the head, now I know that it is wrong to hit...but there is just so much one person can take. The thing is, is that three different people knew that this was going on and no one did anything till Thursday...a displinary guy called me and said he had had Marshall in the office for hitting and I asked him if I could talk to him(Marshall)asked him what happened and asked if it was the same kid and he said yes...I proceeded to tell the guy on the phone told him that this has been going on for a week now. Well he said that this is the first he is hearing about it and that he would get to the bottom of it and that it stops here!! Finally some one who was going to take some action. It ended up that Marshall had to do a one day in ISS, which I understand it is wrong to hit and like I told him Marshall does NOT go around just hitting people for no reason, Marshall usually doesn't hit anyone unlessw he is hit.... So I am praying that next week since they finally corrected the other kid that this is all worked out. Kids are so cruel these days, but what get me is...Marshall is in some special ed kids and this kid is in the class too, well seems to me he would be what ever he is calling Marshall!! So I really would like to ask for prayers for a MUCH, MUCH better week for Marshall and that this kid leaves him alone....

On another note today was the very first day for Nathan to go to school, today just the kindegarten boys went and on Monday only the girls will go, and Tuesday they all go....
Well we went to his testing on Wed, he did fine, but when we got in the car he told me..."mommy I don't want to go to school, I wanna stay home and be your baby." I told him that he will always be the baby...so I just knew this morning it was going to be a struggle and that he would be clinging to me....
Well we got to his class room and got him settled at a table with some puzzles to play with and then I leaned over to him and told him I had to go and asked if I could have a kiss because I didn't want to get lipstick on him and he looked up and me and said...NO just go mom ( like I was embarrasing him) so I did.
He did great and had a great day and is ready to go back!!

I enjoyed my kid day free...Didn't do anything special vaccuumed out the van, took some pants to the cleaners (Marshall's ROTC), went to the bank went to Wal-mart and then home to a nice QUIET house..no TV or anything on I just sat and listened to nothing!!!

Well this wasn't as short as I had wanted it, it's late and I am going to bed, I'll try to upload the pictures I took of the two of them in there sholl uniforms, they looked like twins today!!
I'm glad that tomorrow is Saturday I hate getting up at 5(the kids are all out the door by 6:45, my day starts early)
Blessings....

Saturday, August 2, 2008 6:18 PM CDT

****UPDATE 8/8/08******
Prayer request please.....
well as you may know today is the first day of school for the kids....
1st, Amelia had her bone marrow biopsy on Wednesday the 6, the marrow was shipped to Minnesota. Her platelet count was 27 please pray for her platelets to come up, please pray for her while she is at school.
2nd request is for Marshall today is his first day of high school. I think he will enjoy it much more, but it is quite a big school. Also he has joined the ROTC. He is so excited about this, please pray that this is a positive experience for him and that he continues to enjoy it!!!!

Yeah I Went There..........

And here too.....

PEACE.....
(and quiet await me)

Saturday, July 26, 2008 3:58 PM CDT

OK, Since August is fast approaching and school will be starting soon (cue the choir of angles in the background singing Alleluia)I figured I better get this post put up...I had, had it planned for a while but wasn't sure if they would all be starting school this year, but since I know that they will....here it is.....

THINGS I WON'T MISS COME AUGUST

notice how my boy always wraps things around other things....he is for ever doing this.

Notice the fake snake..I couldn't tell you how many times that thing has almost made me pee in my pants!!!
See these well we now have a real rail on here......

Other things I won't miss are the toys and stuff all over the house.....

A closer look....

and an even closer look.....

Then there is this stuff that I am always cleaning up.....
POPCORN

ANIMAL CRACKERS....

and my least favorite...JELLY....

yes my table has seen better days and we will be getting rid of it soon, but not until they have done all the damage they can do to it........

And last but not least, another thing I will NOT miss....

What will I miss.....
Them....

Sunday, July 20, 2008 10:03 AM CDT

It's so hard to believe today is a day that I never thought would be here!! Yes it's so true and yet so hard to believe that my first born is....
15 15!! So hard to believe, where oh where did the time go?.....
Oh I know don't remind me of all that we or rather he has/ have been through to make it to today.

Here he is just 5 days old!!!

And through the first months....

And through the years....

His 11th birthday....

And here he is today doing what he does best....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MARSHALL....We love you and hope that you have MANY, Many more!!

love and blessings,
Mom, dad, Mimi, and Nater.....

Sunday, July 20, 2008 9:52 AM CDT

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 2:59 PM CDT

OK as promised, pictures from our recent trip to Mamaw and Papaws for swimming. My girl has gotten so brave, she never would have jumped in last year now she likes for her dad to throw her in the pool. Here let me show you....

She is now even getting brave enough to jump from the higher deck..... see here...

Um here she is just a little closer....

She is definatly part fish....
Here is a picture of what happened when she got on the swing to swing....

Can you see why I was just a little paranoid....
One a good note we finally got in to see a local Hem/Onc. Our first appointment is July 22nd!!! Yay for us, I'm sure he will schedule her for a bone marrow biopsy after our first meeting and after he talks to the doctors in Minnesota!!!

OK it is also offical the count down to school starting is on!!! 23 full days. Nathan won't start till the following week, but that's OK I look forward to getting that last week of lovin' in. I'm ready but I know I will miss them all.
I'm just about done with all the school shopping. Uniforms for the two little ones are all done and so is the school supply list...Marshall dosen't have uniforms this year so we had to buy new clothes for him, the boy has gained some weight! We had to buy some huskie size pants..thankful for the adjustable waist, if he loses any during the school year!!
We will go either tomorrow to get blood or Thursday. I'll let you know how she does.
I also wanted to say thank you for your continued prayers and support..It really does mean a lot to us.
Blessings....

Friday, July 11, 2008 11:01 AM CDT

Greetings faithfull followers,

I promise we haven't fallen off the face of the earth. We have been busy, we've been to the doctors about three times this week, nope not for Amelia.....

Marshall!
Marshall, had a baseball size abscess, under his left arm. We first went on Saturday morning and the doc said it was too deep for her to do anything and she put him on antibiotics and told us to put warm compresses on for the remainder of the weekend and come back in on Monday. We went in on Monday and the doctor that was there lanced it open and drained it. Poor thing was in some real pain, they think it may have been a staph infection so on the safe side, he will finish up the antibiotics. We went back again on Wed and the doctor was very please with the progress, today it looks so MUCH better. We will go to see him again next week just so they can make sure that it is healing and heading in the right direction. I have to say that our pediatricians sure do worry about my kids just about as much as I do.

I didn't get Amelia's counts this week, I went and go them last week. I was trying to hold off but just couldn't do it, after having red marks on her thighs from the swing I decided I couldn't take it any more and went and got her counts....to my surprise they were up. Just a little, but up is UP!!
Her platelets were at 30 and the rest of her counts were up as well, her white cells were up again to 4.1 up from 3.1 and her hemaglobin was up to 12.1 up from 11.3.
So I'm going to wait and go again next Wed or Thursday to get her counts again. I just keep praying that they stay where they are or even better just go up I'll take up about 10 points, or higher!

Well we are on our way out to MaMaw and Papaw's house for some swimming and eating...what better way to spend the day. Hope you all have an enjoyable weekend!!!
Blessings....
I'll try to post some pictures of my girl jumping in to the pool and having fun!!

Thursday, June 26, 2008 6:46 PM CDT

Today has been a roller coaster of a day. I�m not sure if it is the weather or the fact that I have been in the house since Monday with all three kids. Or is it just the summer blues....or it is because I got a phone call today from the endocrinologist that we saw on Friday. He had the results of her recent blood test. We had counts done on Friday June 20th and two weeks earlier her platelets were 35 and today they were 28!!! Yep you read it right 28. Which if they were higher would not be such a big deal. I was fine when they were above 30, and now that they are below, it�s like I�s a scatter brain. I�m really trying hard not to worry.

It is so hard to realize that her platelets are so low, because when you see her she is by no means �sick�. She is so full of life and energy, she doesn�t even look sick, she hardly has a lot of bruises..... Don�t get me wrong, I�m not complaining, I am truly thankful that she is so full of life.
It�s just hard to believe that on paper and on the inside she is not doing that good.

I guess I am just venting because I know that there is nothing that I can do to change anything! I just have to deal with it, and that I will. God is in control. I will hold on to my FAITH.......
F~ fantastic
A~ adventure
I~ in
T~trusting
H~him...........

I have to for her......

Blessings.....

Tuesday, June 24, 2008 11:05 AM CDT

Just a quick update today for a very special cause....
There is a little girl in Minneapolis right now who is on her 3rd transplant and things are still not going good and she may be headed for her fourth transplant....please say some special prayers for her and send her lot of special thoughts her web site is....http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/nataliejane

She is really in need of a special miracle......

Thanks for checking in on us we are enjoying the summer will update later with some new pictures. We went to the Tropical smoothie Cafe this Saturday to represent Camp Sunshine!!

Thursday, June 19, 2008 1:39 PM CDT

Well this past Saturday we had the kids birthday party at the park. It was pretty nice, it did rain for a little bit but not long and when it rained we did the cakes and opened presents so that way they would have time to play, when it stopped raining. They both had a great time. Here are some pictures of the cakes that I made for them. Amelia wanted a casle cake, so we went shopping and found a kit to make it.....

And the finnished product.....

Nathan on the other hand, wanted a bee hive cake. His was so much easier!! Here is his, I have to say they both loved their cakes and they tasted pretty good too. The top of Amelia's had a cheesecake rasberry filling, Nathan's was chocolate fudge.

At the party.....

Here are some pictures from the party....

I'll try to update again soon.......
thanks for stopping in and thanks for keeping my family in your prayers I know that Amelia is still in need of them.

Saturday, June 7, 2008 7:25 PM CDT

I can't believe my baby girl is 8 years old today!!! Wow oh wow, where have the days gone? Today we went out to my mom and dad's house to go swimming. They had a blast, my mom ran to the store and picked her up a little small cake. We swam and then had pizza and cake and icecream. Her birthday party, and Nathan's too will be next Saturday at the park. I will be making a castle cake and a beehive cake. I have pictures and some videos from today of them swimming and jumping in the pool. I'll get to them later in the week. I want to put up some pictures from earlier this week.
A friend of mine(Hey Jamie!!)called us and wanted us to meet them at one of the parks or here they are called trailheads. In the tri-city area there is a bike trace that runs from Covington thru Mandeville and on into Slidell, and at various spots along the trace they have parks, one of them is where we are going to have their birthday party next week. It is a fenced palyground with a caboose with a covered deck on the back for parties. Well a little further down is another trailhead with fountains coming out of the ground and the kids had a blast there this Wed. Below are a few pictures from that adventure.....

They had a blast and it was a great way for them to cool off from the heat here in the south....We need some rain bad...

Please continue to keep Amelia in your prayers. We had bllod counts done again Thursday and there really wasn't much change. White cells were 3.8 HGB 12.2 and platelets were 35 and ANC was 1026....
I really feel that we will be at transplant within the year...please pray for her!!!
more counts around the 20th when we go to the endo doc....I'll keep you posted.
Blessings.....

Tuesday, June 3, 2008 8:17 PM CDT

JUST A QUICKIE....
Hi all
just have time for a quickie up date. All is well here and summer is just rolling along. Marshall and Amelia are both taking turns spending the night at my mom and dad's house. Tonight is Marshall's turn, tomorrow will be Amelia's.
I'm going to try to take her either this week or next week for more counts.
Amelia's birthday is Saturday, I can't believe that it has been 8 years. I think we are going to take her some where for lunch on Saturday. She is having a party at the park on the 14th. I combined hers and Nates.....just a lot easier that way.
Well just wanted to update and let you all know that we are doing pretty good...I'll try to up date again soon.

Tuesday, May 27, 2008 6:16 PM CDT

*****update 6/1
Tomorrow is the funeral, I know that it will be a hard day. My mom is doing fine, We know that she is in a far better place. You can visit http://www.harrymckneely.com and visit Sylvia Keen.

I hope to be back with some updates later this week........
<><...<><...<><...<><...<><...<><...<><...<><...<><...<><
Please keep our family in your prayers, especially my mother as we just found out that her younger sister just passed a way suddenly. This is the sister that had, had a heart attack and survived and had been through breast cancer and survived. She was a secratary at a school and she was having a party at her home for the staff for the end of the year. They said she passed out and couldn't revive her. We are all still in shock. My mom called me from the hospital and said they thought it was a blood clot. Please, please keep her family in your prayers.
I'm including a picture of my mom and her sisters from a long time ago.......

My mom is in the blue, and her younger sister is in the hot pink in the middle.

She was only 58 years old, her birthday is July 29th she would have been 59......

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 11:41 AM CDT

School's out....heaven help me....They both passed. Marshall will start high school in August. Amelia will be in third grade...gosh can you believe that?? And Nater brings up the rear with Kindergarten, heaven help his teacher!!!

took squirt to get blood counts done today.....

Will let you know this afternoon what they are, please pray for great results!!!

4:00 pm Blood results.....
Not what I was hoping for but....
Wbc 4.4
Hgb 13.3
and
Platelets.....36 :~(

Sunday, May 11, 2008 8:55 PM CDT

Greetings faithful followers,

All is well here, the kids are doing pretty good. Nate has the yucky nose, and Marshall sounds like he may be starting. The kids are on a count down to the final days of school. Which is only in 7 more days. They have all of this week and two full days of the following with a 1/2 day on May 21st. I think that we are all ready for the summer to be here. Amelia and Marshall have pretty much shut down and judt complain eveytime I have to wake them up to go to school.

Well today we had a pretty good Mothers day, we went out to my moms house. My dad uncovered the pool and the kids went in. It was way too cold for anyone else. Nate wouldn't get in he said it was just too cold for him. The weather was beautiful, the humidity was pretty low, and the wind was blowing. There was no cooking but than a little by my dad, he made potatoe salad and brown gravy. We had roast beef and ham and cheese poboys. They were good! It was an all around great day!!!
I know that this is short but I gotta run gotta see who wins SURVIVOR and set the old alarm clock for on last week of school!!!!
I'll try to update again a little more...
Oh just wanted to tell you that my Mom is doing great, you should she her go...she is walking with a cane and a lot of times she is walking with nothing, although the PT person told her she really should be using something, my mom is just a strong woman and she is not one to stay down...she is a toughie....
Blessings...................................

Friday, May 2, 2008 8:40 PM CDT

Well I know that I said I would let you know how things are going, but well.....we have been busy and three out of 5 of us are sick, with me being the worse!!

My mom went home from the hospital on Monday and is doing great, she has PT and the home health nurse comes to her. PT said she is doing great, she can almost get her leg completely straight.

Amelia started with the yucky sniffels and spread it all around!! She has been doing much better now that she is on the zantac stuff. I think her and Marshall are both so ready for school to be over. I on the other hand am not really looking forward to it. I pray that it is not a rainy summer I need them to go out and play and burn up the energy!!!
Marshall well he is, I guess you can say a normal teenage boy with all the attitude. Health wise he is doing great. I really counld ask for anything better. We need to return to the Asthma doctor this month just for a check up.

Nate is also one of the ones that Amelia just had to infect with her cold, except his isn't all that bad, mainly just a stopped up nose.

I know that this is very short, but I am the one who is feeling the worst! My throat is so dry and scratchy and my head feels like it is about to explode and my nose is dripping like a faucet!!! I have my box of tissues and just took my nightquill, drank some hot lemon and honey and I am going to crawl up in my bed.

Blessings.....

Tuesday, April 22, 2008 2:49 PM CDT

******UPDATE 4/25
Please continue to keep my mom in your prayers. She has done well with the surgery on Wed. and she got up and walked yesterday, but her blood pressure is really low and so is her hemaglobin, I think they will be giving her more blood today. When she sits she is dizzy and neauseated. She would be up and using her leg and learing to walk if they could get her blood right. Please pray that they get it undercontrol soon......

Greetings faithful followers:

Life has been busy around here. Amelia continued to have a few more "episodes" of pains and hurting when she would take a deep breath. We she would get it she would do a lot of burping so I was leaning more to her stomach than anything else. We went to the doctor last Wednesday. We started her on Rx strength Zantac. She has been on it for a week now and so far we have not had any episodes. I am not sure, but I was thinking that it was a hiatal hernia or GERD. Right now I am just happy that she has not had any pain in quite a while.

I think that she has some kind of virus too, her platelets were down to 38, and her white cells were up to 10.2, which I know is still in the normal range, but Amelia's WBC are usually in the 4-5 range. When we went to have her counts done two weeks ago they were (WBC)7 and then just a few days later they were 10.2. Well last Wednesday when we went back to the pediatrician we did a finger stick and her white cells were back down to 4.6 and her platelets were up just a bit, but I'm not going to get my hopes up there, we will have a vein draw next month and again in June to see where we stand with those. The Docs in Minnesota said that if she had a virus or something that would bring down her platelets, so give it a few months, but check them monthly to see if it is a trend in her counts or if they are rebounding from something.....so we'll let ya know on that.

We also got her hair cut again and this time we went a little shorter......

I think it is kinda cute, I'm just tired of fighting her on trying to comb it.

One last note, if you would, please keep my mom in your prayers. Tomorrow morning she will be having a knee replacement.
I'll keep you posted on that too.....
Blessings......

Tuesday, April 8, 2008 9:41 PM CDT

*****UPDATE 4/11 8am*******
Please continue to keep Amelia in your prayers. I really don't think that this is a pulled muscle. She was sound to sleep last night and at about 11:45 she woke me up crying really bad with the pain again. I gave her some Tylenol and laid down with her, I think she finally feel a sleep around 1:30. Please pray that they find out what this is or that it goes away completely.

***Forgot the3rd thing its at the bottom....

Greetings all,
I am here tonight to ask prayer request for both Amelia and Marshall.
First I'll start with Marshall, he once agian is fighting the yuckies in his nose! He was just on the Z pack last week for sinuses and all. He got better and again he is back with the yuckies. The weather here has been hot and muggy and not a whole lot of rain and the tree pollen is horrid. So please pray that he can shake this and get rid of it once and for all.

Secondly, Amelia, Well last week we went and got her platelet count done and they were 42. She had been doing really well. Last night though we were at the ER with her. We still are not sure what it was, she started complaining at about 5:15 with pains in her heart area and couldn't take deep breaths. At first I thought it was just gas but as the night went on she just keep complaining really bad and started to really have trouble or what appeared to be trouble breathing. I called the peditrician at home and she was a little concerned but not too much, but considering that it is Amelia and she has FA, she said she would just feel much better if we brought her into the ER and have her checked out,Chest X-ray, blood work and all that stuff. We went to a different hospital this time (Lakeview) and we had a much better experience than the last time that we had to take her. They of course couldn't tell us what she had, but they could tell us what it wasn't. They narrowed it down to either she had a touch of plurisey or which we are really leaning towards a pulled muscle. One interesting thing we did find out is that she has an underdeveloped rib in the upper part of her ribs and her chest is racked to one side, if that makes any sense to you, because I am still trying to wrap my brain around it. Any way her platelets were 38, WBC were 10.1 up from just last week of 7 and her HGb last week was 13.1 and this week it was 11.1. Not sure why her platelets are all over the place. I am hoping that in a few weeks all of this will get better soon....all this bouncing around of the counts.
Today(the reason I feel it is a muscle thing) she is still feeling a little bit of pain in her chest area, like when she bends down or streaches up and stuff. She is going to shcool tomorrow. Please pray for her and her platelets to recover and go up some from all of this and for my sanity. I aam so freaked out over the lowness of her platelets and her energy level!!! She is still asking to ride her bike.....oh let me go and count all the recent gray hairs that I have gained in the last few weeks.
Third prayer request is for my mom, she will be having knee replacement surgery on April 23. Please keep her in your prayers she is very nervouse.

Sunday, March 30, 2008 4:18 PM CDT

Greeting faithful followers,

We had a pretty good Easter. We went to my mom and dad's house and had an egg hunt for the kids. They of course got way too much candy. And well it really wouldn't have been Easter if they weren't allowed to eat all that candy for breakfast, now would it?

The kids had a week off from school and it was not as bad as I thought it would be. The weather has been wonderful here. Although it is starting to warm up quite a bit. And the humidity is back. I like the weather where you can open the windows all day long! Now we have our central air running day and night!

I can't believe there is only about 7 weeks of school left. Then when school starts next year they will all be going. Marshall will start high school, not quite sure I am ready for that one!!! My baby boy will be going to kindergarten, oh my gosh when did he grow up?????!!!! I have mixed emotions on that one, I will miss him and I will enjoy the freedom of the day to just be by myself! this will be the first time in about 12 years that I had not had some one home with me. Marshall had to be hospital home bound when Amelia was born and when Amelia and Marshall both started school I had Nathan. So I'm not sure what I will do with my days....

On the health front all seems to be OK. Amelia had to go to the doctor for her allergies and sinus trouble. We didn't get her platelets done because she has been suffering with the sniffles. Once they clear up we will be going to get them done. Marshall has been doing pretty good on the health front. We took him off of his straterra. He seems to be a little better as far as the moodiness, of course I am sure that some of it is the teenage years!! UGH!!!
School for the both of them has been pretty good. They both just got report cards about two weeks ago. Amelia had all B's and 1 A. Her reading level has improved in 9/07 it was 1.7 and in 3/08 her reading level was equivilent to.....4.5 yep can you believe it she has improve that much in her reading skills, I am so proud of her.
Marshall had A's & B's and sad to say one F in science. I am hoping that he pulls that grade up. I think this is his first ever F on a report card. What am I gonna do with that boy!!
Well we are enjoying the last day, before we are back to the hustle and bustle of everyday school life again tomorrow. Amelia is off riding her bike with her Uncle Jeff.

Well sorry to be so boring, but that is the joy that we get to enjoy for now!!!!!!

Monday, March 17, 2008 6:42 PM CDT

Life in the Country.......

It ain�t all it�s cracked up to be......

You see we have to deal with these.....

and these,

and these....

Sometimes these creatures get a little TOO close for comfort.

These.....

we found a nest in here

by the A/C filters.

These

have taken over the rural street that we live on and on Friday night they attacked this......

Needless to say that our whole

smelled of burnt rubber, or coffee!! The dog we bathed in tomato juice, that didn�t help...it just turned our whitish, tanish dog a reddish color. Took quite a few washes to get him back to normal, color that is. Smell, well that may take a few weeks.

And you see these.....

I just can�t stand them anywhere, anyhow!!!

This was taken on our front porch. If I didn�t hate them so much I would put them around the tires of the van and then maybe they would keep the mice from getting in.

Yep Country life ain�t all it�s cracked up to be, I think I see a subdivision in our future!

Thursday, March 6, 2008 6:49 PM CST

HAVE YOU EVER.....

Have you ever had to prune an artificial tree?

I have.....

My poor tree had seen better days.

See those poor bare limbs there was once leaves on there.

I broke out the trusty ol' cutters and went to town!
My tree is happy now...

Who do you think is responsible for the need to prune?

HINT.....Hint...hint....

He looks something like this....

Thursday, February 28, 2008 2:58 PM CST

Well Heeeelllllllloooooo....
I know I have been a way for a while. Haven�t had too much to talk about. Really I haven�t. Kinda boring around here. Of course I will settle for boring any day of the week. It is truly a welcomed change from all the excitement that we have been too in the past. Well unless you want to hear me gripe about Insurance & doctors and trying to get authorization for her growth hormones....I have been round for round with the doctors office and three rounds with the Insurance company and just today I am starting over again with the specialty pharmacy that handles the medicine, please wish me luck that this is the turn that finally gets it done!!!

Or, I could sit and gripe about the price of gas and how we have not been going anywhere but the necessity places. I could gripe about the prices at the grocery store and how outrageous they are, I need to go tomorrow to get groceries, because last month I only skimped by and well I only go once a month to Wal-mart. The rest of the month I get milk and bread at the dollar store. But I figure that you all are probably in the same boat and are really sick and tired of hearing about inflation and gas prices.

Or, I could sit and tell you....(all my northern friends will love this) that the weather has been really hot here and on Saturday my kids were wearing shorts all over town, that I haven�t even broken out a jacket bigger than a jean jacket ALL winter long!!!

Or, I could tell you all about Nathan and how he watches way too much TV, or rather the commercials. One night about two weeks ago, because, HEY, he has been a big ole� boy now sleeping in his bed all by himself!!!! ALL! NIGHT! LONG!!!!! But this was before when we had to lay with him. He was laying there and he asked me if I would by him some space bags.
The Conversation:
Nate: �Mama can I have some space bags?�
Me: �What are space bags and why do you want them?�
Nate: �Ya know those bags that you put stuff in and suck the air out, and they still give you lots of space in your closets for storage, or you can store things under the bed and best of all.....everything comes out just as fresh as the day you put it in!!!�

I tried really hard not to laugh. Then another conversation we had not long back while making a cake for my dad�s birthday....
Nate: �Mom, whacha doing?�
Me: �Decorating Papaw�s cake.�
Nate: � Can I watch?�
Me: �Sure can�
Nate: �Mom, do you have a petal tip?�
Me: �A what?�
Nate: � A PETAL TIP�
Me: �yeah, why�
Nate: � Just wondering because you can make elwegant Woses* with them�
Again I try my hardest not to laugh at him.
* that is suppose to be elegant roses, but it is so cute when he says it.

Then he tells me all the time when I get the scissors out that we need the craft light cutter!!! Or when I can�t find my keys or cell phone I need the Buxton organizer. Even when my dad was here he would tell him that he needed Mighty putty it holds �anyfing� in place. I swear he is a walking infomercial.

Well I guess I could tell you about Amelia and how she LOVES, I MEAN LOVES her new room. How she is growing and she is excited to finally be in a size 6!! Yep she has finally gotten into a size 6 finally out of the toddler section. She is about 40 lbs and almost 44" tall. I can also tell you that she is doing pretty good on her new medicine for ADD, it seems to be helping her with concentration. She has even picked up in her reading level, she is so excited to be reading on an almost 3rd grade level!!! Considering that last year at this time she was at a beginning level of 1st grade (she is in 2nd grade)

Marshall well he is not so keen on the new room, as it is just above his and when they jump off the bed...well, lets just say it drives him nuts! He�s been doing pretty good in school. I think he is going through the normal teenage hormones...lucky me I get it twice! He went through a puberty once when he was on the hormones to help his hemoglobin up and now again!!He has been a little depressed here lately, well not much depressed as it is moody. I think that is another one of those age things or at least I am hoping that is what that is. But everyone I talk to say it�s the age! So if you could say a little prayer for me on this one that would greatly be appreciated!

Well gotta run because its homework time! I�ll try to not be away for so long next time, but won�t make any promises.

Saturday, February 9, 2008 9:44 PM CST

Ok I promis we have BEEN MIA.... We have been very busy and we are wrapping things up. First let me give the health updates on the kids.

Marshall is doing better we went to the pediatrician to get the stiches removed and his finger looks much better...me who always has the camera (as you will see below)did not take a single picture of the stiches. It has been a little wild around here. We went to the allergist Friday and he put him on some stronger antibiotics and if I feel he needs them some steriods to help him breathe a little better.
Amelia went to the the pediatrician to talk about putting her on some straterra to help with her focusing oo her school work. We did a finger stick and he platelets were up to 59! I also got her a Rx for a vein puncture so we could get something a little more acurate, not sure when I will take her to do this. But please say a prayer that her medicine helps he concentrate better in class!

Nate is feeling a little better, he has allergies and a yucky nose off and on. Here the pine pollen is all over the place.

Ok, wanna know what we have been up too? Ok hope you are not a dial-upper....

here see this picture below...

This is what my living room use to look like....

See Nate here his is just on the other side of the wall with the mirror on it, he's in what used to be a coat closet on one side and a storage closet on the other side....

here are some beginings of some stairs...

Stairs that lead up to our attic....

more pictures of the attic....

See this picture below that was where all our attic stuff was stored...

No more attic...

Here is what it looked like just 3 short weeks ago...

and now lets recap...take a journey with me...
here is the view from our living room....

just beyond the lamp next to the door hangs this plaque.

and just beyond the plaque is....

A beautiful PINK princess room...

SHe is so "psyched" (those were her words) she has been in her room for 3 nights and doing great up there. I told her she was the princess in the tower. The stairs are just temporary strairs, my dad is working on the other ones.

Well it is time to make sure that the prince and princess is in bed....
goodnight....

Tuesday, January 29, 2008 7:59 AM CST

OK I am begining to feel like I am sounding like a broken record. This week it is Marshall's turn to be sick! The weird thing is out of the three of them not a single one of them has had the same thing!!
Yesterday was a very interresting day.... leave it to Marshall to keep things "hoppin'"
We went to the pediatrician yesterday for Marshall, who has been complaining of his chest hurting and his head all congested. The doctor said it wasn't the Flu and it wasn't pneumonia, it is a touch of pleurisy, basically the chest wall is inflamed. He put him on an antibiotic and some cough meds. We went to get the RX filled at Target, Marshall bought a new CD.....we get to the van and he get the scissors out of the glove compartment to open up the CD and instead.....slices his finger wide open almost to the bone! I couldn't get the bleeding to stop, thankfully I have(had) a first aide kit in the car with some gauze in it. I called the pediatrician's office to see where I needed to go, their office comes before you get to the ER and at the time of day that it was the trafic was not moving anywhere! 3:30, had my flashers on and got him to he pediatricians office he ended up needing three big stiches!!
He was supose to pay me back for buying the CD for him...well after all that I didn't have the heart to ask him for his money!!!
He is home from school again today, not sure when he will go back, he is pretty miserable. With both the finger and the stopped up nose!

The kids are out of school next week for Mardi Gras. The room is coming along very well, she is getting very excited to have her own room again. I keep telling her she will be the princess in the tower. I hope to have pictures soon. With every thing going on I feel like I am ready to pull out my hair. This is Tyren's last week of school and once Mardi Gras is over we will be able to go back to enjoying a "normal" life again!!!
Well I know that this is short again,but please bear with me.....I have to do a SNOW GLOBE update she has received quite a few of them, some are very beautiful...and Scott is you are reading this, thank you for the beautiful Christmas one, she loved it and I hope to get a picture of it to you soon!!!

Thanks for stoping in and keeping my kiddo's in your prayers, they are appreciated more than you will ever know.

Ask Him...
...to help you truly KNOW in your soul that you are worthy, capable, smart, beautiful and good enough just because you ARE... beacuse God's promise will be so infused in your soul that these things become TRUTH for you - not just what you WISH the truth to be.

Blessings....

Sunday, January 20, 2008 5:38 PM CST

Please keep Nathan in your prayers. He has been running a high fever since Wed night, I took him to the doctor on Thursday and they gave him a shot. His throat is all infected, they did a strep test and it came back negative. I thought that the shot would knock it out...well here it is Sunday afternoon and his fever is still running at about 102.4. I have a dentist appointment at 9 in the morning, so if we get something after that I will be bringing him back to the doctor. If they fit him in before I get back Dad is going to have to bring him.
Nate hasn't been sleeping well at night, which means, NO ONE is sleeping well!!!! He is fine when his fever breaks, but when he is running fever he is just laying around sleeping. I hate to see any of my kidos sick!!! You can hear when he talks, he sounds like he has a mouth full of rocks.

The house is a mess and I wonder if we will ever see the light at the end of this tunnel. But I can honestly say that it will all be worth it in the long run!!!

I know that I said that I would do a better update, but with all that is going on....well my head is spinning! I have a busy week ahead of us.

Marshall and Amelia both got their report cards last week. Amelia had all B's...she was upset because they were not A's! Marshall had 3 B's, 3 A's and one C. We are very proud of boht of them.
Marshall get his IVIG on Tuesday. He will also get his first HPV vaccine....the insurance won't pay for it, but thanks to our wonderful pediatrician, we won't be paying for any of them either.
Well I hate to cut this short, but the kids are calling................

Wednesday, January 9, 2008 7:09 PM CST

****Amelia's fever has broken, no fever in a little over 24 hours...still coughing a pretty good bit. She'll be going to school tomorrow, I hope she feels better, she keeps getting a headache from coughing too much.
****UPDATE AT BOTTOM OF PAGE*****
I Know, I know...... I have been lacking in updating....Amelia stayed home yesterday to go to the doctor due to a nasty cough. She is still coughing but nothing else.

The reason for the lack in updates....please bare with us Destruction has begun so that Construction can be started.

Yes, its true Amelia will soon have her an upstairs room, well I won't say SOON, because papaw is doing it all himself, with occasional help from me and Tyren when he is home on the weekends from school. We discovered we have pleanty of room up in the attic to make her a nice size room.
There is clutter all over the house and 3 closets had to be emptied out to make room for the stairs. Please say prayers for all of us that we make it through this in one piece or in PEACE!!! I have the greatest parents so far all this has cost us is the cost to move the A/C unit in the attic. Papaw has footed the rest of the bill....any thing for his little girl! She truly has him wrapped around her fingers! When things settle down a little bit I will do a much better update....

**** 9:33pm Wed ****
I spoke too soon, Amelia is running fever now, I took her temp before bed and it was 101.4 so we will be back at the doctors office tomorrow....I'll let you know.....

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