My Daddy is coming to visit!

He called Wednesday night to let me know he'd be here Sunday. He's making the drive from VA!

I'm so excited. Haven't seen him since last April when he came down to meet Emmy!


So we'll have a busy week I'm sure.

We're getting down to the wire.

IF Miss Calleigh is born at the same gestation that Izzie was, we've got about 9 weeks to go. There's a slim possibility she'll come earlier and of course the possibility she'll come later.

SO. I've really go to get cracking on finishing up everything that needs done.


This list will keep me accountable.

Things Left to Buy:
1. Carseat -- Our original choice is out of stock currently at the two places we were going to buy from. It is in stock at other online merchants -- but for a pricier tag, PLUS more shipping. I'll pass.

2. Bottles/ Pacifiers. -- Just planning on picking up a Playtex starter kit and a few types of paci's (NUKs, Avent, Mam, and Soothie)

3. Diapers -- I need to stock up on more of these. Both cloth and disposable.

4. Breast Pump Parts. I need new tubing/valves etc for my Ameda since SIL has returned it. At least I won't need a whole new pump now.

5. Diaper Bag -- Really considering splurging a little for a Skip Hop Duo -- but so far have not been able to make myself hit Order. WOOTY Woot! DONE. I just got my new Skip Hop Duo Deluxe for $4.69 out of pocket! I can live with that.

6. SOCKS -- We've lost almost all of our baby socks.
Things left to do in the house:

1. Finish setting up Bassinet in my room.

2. Wash blankets/bedding

3. Get swing from mom's house so we have it.

4. Sterilize Bottles/Paci's (In case we need them)

5. Pack hospital bags.

6. Finalize plans for where the girlies will go

7. Anything else I've forgotten.

Fellow Bloggers....

Reposted with Permission.

Please if you can either donate or put up this post to spread the word and help this little boy. I know medical bills are daunting, even with good insurance, and I know the Joys *dripping with sarcasm* of traveling far away for medical treatment.

The following is a copy of Beth's post from her blog, Manic Mother

Ezra is in our thoughts and prayers.

I don’t even know where to start this post…its going to be hard to write, as I am already choking back tears and haven’t finished the first sentence. I am taking some hours away from the hospital, to write this and to try to clear my head.

As many of you know my youngest son was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) 2 days ago, the day my world fell out from under me.

We took him to the Dr. the other day because he was bitten by either a spider or a tick. Shortly after we noticed the bites we saw he wasn’t feeling well, kind of lethargic, and not eating much, he also was limping in one leg. I assumed he was having a reaction from the bites.

They did an x-ray of his legs to make sure he hadn’t fractured anything as a precautionary measure. The x-ray showed he had some abnormalities in his bones.

We are in the grocery store and I get a call from his pediatrician, he tells me I need to take him to the ped. oncology tomorrow. That it could be cancer. My world is spinning now, we walk away from our filled grocery cart, and head back home. Panic starts to set in.

It still is not making any sense. Ezra has been a perfectly healthy baby. He shows none of the typical symptoms of ALL. Besides being pale (but we all are), and the limp that just showed up. He is healthy, or so I thought. How do you go from a limp to leukemia?

After seeing the pediatric oncologist we are still hopeful, since he also says he doesn’t see any of the symptoms. So they take some blood and we are on our way.

That night we get a call from him, and our told to take him to the ER. We rush our baby off in the middle of the night. At the ER my husband and I have to endure things no parent should ever have to see, I don’t think I can go into detail. Just imagine blood curdling screams from your baby, like nothing you have ever heard.

We are told later that night that it probably is leukemia. Still have to wait for final lab results though. Sure enough he has cancer. Holy shit, my baby has cancer.

He is doing good so far, he had surgery to place a port in his chest so they can administer the chemo, and that went well. He has had 2 rounds of chemo already, and is staying tough.

His spinal test came back negative, meaning the cancer had not yet spread to his spine and brain…we caught it really early.

Thank you spider.

The type of leukemia he has is the most treatable type, it has the highest remission and cure rate. Silver lining perhaps?

That doesn’t take away from the fact that he now faces 3 years of chemotherapy. 3 years.

Here is where we need your help.

We are by no means financially well off. I stay at home with the boys, and my husband works PT and goes to school FT. We live off of his little pay and student loans.

We also share a car.

We can’t afford a new one…or even a used one. I am going to be taking Ezra to the Dr. 2-3 times a week, there is no way we can share a car, with my husband having to go back and forward from school and work. Not to mention if he gets a fever I have to take him to the Dr. ASAP.

His insurance should cover all of his medical bills. Its just the other things we can’t afford.

We also need to make my home more suitable for Ezra, I need to have the plumbing, and ac serviced to make sure it is clean. Any bacteria infection can kill him. We just don’t have the funds to do so. Yes, my family is helping out some, but their means are limited as well. Not to mention much of their money will be spent flying down to help me (they live in MN).

I am a proud person, I do not like being a charity case. But given the current situation, I am swallowing my pride, and asking for any help you can give.

Even if its only a dollar, I would be thrilled.

If you don’t have a dollar (I know I don’t) , please help out by blogging about this, tweeting, stumbling, etc. I have seen how Mommy bloggers rally to help each other out in times of need, and I know you will all do the same for us.

I am putting a paypal button in this post for donations, and there will also be one up in my sidebar, which I know works. I don’t know if this one will work, its so confusing and my head hurts, but we need help ASAP so I am trying to muddle through this.

Please help in anyway you can, thanks so much, and keep the prayers and thoughts coming.

Wordless (not really) Wednesday

So its not quite wordless. It's a cute video of Miss Izzie.




For more WW posts, check out Momdot, 5MFM, and 3kidsnus

We had a great day yesterday

We met up with some of the wonderful mommies, daddies, and Kiddo's from our "playgroup" for a BBQ.

Good Food, good friends, good fun, what more could we ask for. Well a lack of rain would have been nice, but who can be picky!

Caity's favorite part was picking blackberries out of the patch (Thanks for taking the kids picking Jamie!)

Izzie loved playing with the ponies along with the other little ones.

And Me. Well I got to talk with other mommies (both preggo and not) and get some fun adult time, while the DH's kept a watch on the kiddo's outside!

Can't wait for our next meetup!

Now this is love

Izzie is currently giving me all the parts of the chex mix she doesn't like.


I feel so important LOL

You see that,

That handy dandy lil widget along the left side of my blog.

The one that says 108 days to go.

Well it Lies.

It's really more like 101 days IF we schedule my section for exactly 39 weeks (which I don't see happening)

So what does that mean. It means that really I am in DOUBLE DIGITS before Miss Calleigh arrives.

We have a winner

The winner of the Tilty Sippy cups is

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4

Timestamp: 2009-05-20 18:31:24 UTC

Comment #4 was placed by: Kim

Kim, I've emailed you, please get back to me with your address so I can ship your cups out.

Wordless Wednesday

Linky - Doos

Above is a list compiled by the ladies at MOMDOT with a huge list of bloggers. Check them out!

Tackle It Tuesday

Still tackling this --



That'd be growing a baby.


This week I was gathering stuff up for a yard sale. So I tackled cleaning up the dreaded downstairs. Yes its that bad.

But I do have three boxes of stuff that is either going to be sold, given away (stuff for Emmy) OR stuff that just needed to be trashed.

Sigh...

I'll have to add to this later, as I have too much to do right now. But things at work are bad.


REALLY bad.


And I might have to start thinking about frugalizing even more on the chance that I no longer have a job. Scary time to think about that now.

But the Lord will provide.

Thank you walmart lady

Wow. Judge much?

I transferred Caity’s prescriptions to the walmart pharmacy close to us. It’s easier to get them there than traveling to the other side of town. OR dealing with Aetna’s mail order place further.

So when I went to pick them up, first the pharmacist wants to do a consult. A consult for drugs that my daughter has been taking for oh 9 months or so. OK.

Then she tells me, that she wanted to be sure the drug was correct, because that drug isn’t commonly used in A) Females, and B) Children.

So I inform her that yes it’s the right drug, yes it’s the right dose, and yes I know there are possible side effects. I also informed her that I also know that IF we do not go with this experimental drug treatment, we are looking at at least one kidney transplant. And that IMO as Caity’s mother, the risks of the drug are far less than the risks of needing a new kidney and having to wait for it OR further damage to the currently “good” kidney.

This isn’t my first encounter like this, but it was far more annoying this week. Maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones, but until you’ve been in the position to make a tough choice such as this, you shouldn’t make assumptions or say Well I would do this.

Yes, there are risks; yes it is possible that our daughter will not be able to have her own children(though highly unlikely). That’s better than her having no future at all. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. But I'm not sorry for the choices I've made.

Cookies are a well balanced

Lunch, right?


I'm just not hungry today.

Nothing sounds good.


So I snagged a few of Izzie's cookies and I'm settled. That counts right?


Guess I'm off to find something suitable for lunch.

Wordless Wednesday -- Silly Girl

It is such a shame.

Apparently, a new strain of the "COLD" virus has hit our home.


I've been told this strain is lethal.

I've been told that this particular COLD could not in anyway be the same COLD I had a few weeks ago. Because obviously I am still living. Do I not understand that this strain is LETHAL.

Nobody has ever been this sick before.


If you hadn't guessed it, Jay caught a cold and is as usual being a "MAN SICK" male about it.

What did you get for Mother's day?

Me,

I got these beautiful handprint flowers Lovingly made by Caity and Izzie





And my MM&M mamas, Jenny and Jennie!

I Got this awesome keychain



And I also got some orangey roses and DH got me sonic for dinner LOL

Dear Husband

When I take my sore back to the kitchen and announce I am cooking dinner please watch the kids.


That DOES NOT mean let them run amuck and underfoot in the kitchen.


Doing so results in whiney kids, an irritated wife, and no dinner.


Thanks much,

Your loving wife.

Tackle It Tuesday -- More baby stuff

Nope. Sorry. No pics today. I know. I suck. Too bad.

But this weeks tackle was more baby stuff. I finalized the nursery plans. I have bedding on the way. It matches the already painted room.

I went through the 3-6 month clothing and sorted it for washing (once I catch up with laundry again)

I sorted the 6-9 and 12 month clothing and put them in marked bins by size and season to make it easier to go through later.


I pick up our carseat at the end of the month.

A friend has offered us her unused stroller and I graciously accepted (Hey its free -- who cares what color it is)



So there you have it. I've been tackling the baby stuff again -- What have you been doing?

For more Tackle it Tuesday click here

And the Dr. Says....

I've gained 5.5 lbs since last appt. Which makes a total of 13lbs so far.

Measuring at 24 weeks (so right on)

Everything looks great.

HR in the 150's. BP is great.


In other news, my OB is going on vacation the second week of August -- this means that I will likely go into labor then LOL. That's only a half joke. With Izzie, my OB went on a cruise to Mexico and at my appt. two days before she left, she joked that there was no way I'd go into labor while she was gone.

Guess who was born that weekend.

Her plan is to start checking me at 32 weeks to see if I might go early again. Earlier if I have contractions

Caity's First School Play

This was from last weeks Spring program.

Here is the preschool class doing "Mr Sun"



She was a little shy about being on stage



Got over that quickly


And Soon was singing like no one was watching (just like she does in the shower, you know)








It was a very very cute program.

I had big plans for this week.....

But I've been hit by the Sciatica bug,PLUS Izzie has an upper respiratory infection and thus, didn't accomplish much yesterday/today.


I did however accomplish a lot over the weekend.


Friday:
Cleaned Living room -- Folded all laundry, cleaned table off (lots of junk on it)
Organized mail, dusted.

Saturday:
Cleaned our bedroom
5 loads of laundry
Cleaned both bathrooms
Took out all trash.
Made OUr bed

Sunday
6 loads of laundry
Put away girls clothes.
Packed up remaining winter clothes to go into storage.
Organized some more of Calleigh's clothes
Made kids beds with fresh sheets and clean comforters



My list for this week, which I hopefully will be able to accomplish

clean Playroom/Nursery
Clean Kitchen
Finish Laundry (I seriously think there's another 8 loads *I'll note here, that I fell
behind on laundry, and am washing regular laundry AND the newly unpacked summer wardrobes
for everyone*)



I also hope to get some craft time in. I want to get started on

Calleigh's nursery letters and her blanket. Plus a few other things.

it's Raining, It's pouring

and if we get anymore, I think we'll float away


This is right off the front porch





Driveway

Calleigh's first presents

Came from Aunt G!







A sweet dress, 2 short sleeve onesies, and a long sleeve onesie, plus some adorable pants.


Thanks Aunt G!

PSF: Kiss Kiss baby sissy

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Funny looking pics, eh!

Izzie has become obsessed with my "baby sissy" belly.

She loves to pat it, talk to it and love on it.

On this day, she was pulling up my shirt, kissing my belly saying "Kiss kiss baby sissy"

I just knew it would make a great photo op for our scrapbook.





For more Photo story Friday click here

I Love Old Navy Clearance

I got the girls matching Christmas shirts/onesies for this year (Caity's is just red, they didn't have an exact match in her size) for .97 a piece.

Izzie & Calleigh's


Caity's chirstmas shirt PLUS two pair of pants for Calleigh (1.50 a piece)


Fleece pants (0.97) and a long sleeve onesie for Calleigh (1.99)



All in all I spent $20.25 and walked away with 11 outfits for Calleigh, and a shirt each for Cait, Izzie, and me.

Awesomeness NEWS

Chris and Jessica brought home their new bundle of joy this week.

Derrick was born on Monday and is 7lbs. He is Andrew's biological half brother and they are hoping that they will be able to adopt him as well.


I am SO happy/excited for them right now. And I got to snuggle newborn squishiness.

Which of course, only made me wish it was September.

Thursday Thirteen : Baby style

Thirteen things we need before Miss Calleigh's Arrival.

1. new carseat
2. new breast pump
3. A few bottles (for the occasional babysitter)
4. Pacifiers (if she decides she wants one)
   
5. crib bedding
   (that matches the playroom)
6. socks (where do they disappear too?)
7. Diaper Bag (Izzie's is trashed after 2 years)
8. A stroller (but that's not important until Spring next year)
9. Baby Monitor (we didn't use one with Izzie and gave away Cait's before Izzie was born)
10. A new Boppy and covers
11. Baby bathtub (if I decide not to just use the sink)
12. A few crib sheets and bassinet sheets.
    
13. Breast pads for mama!