Someone told Ethan we have plans.....



Ethan riding the big rig to the Mercy!



It's been a long time since we've had to keep our upcoming plans a secret from Ethan, but we seem to have fallen back into our old familiar ways of needing to do just that.   It started quite a few years ago....

we have plans to get family pictures taken?  Ethan gets sick and gets admitted.

we have plans to go to the Weston Irish Fest?  Ethan gets sick and gets admitted.

we have family in town for the holidays?  Ethan gets sick and gets admitted.

we set the date for Ethan's birthday party?  Ethan gets sick and gets admitted.

Seeing the pattern here??? We used to joke around that we couldn't share our plans with Ethan, or discuss them out loud around him-or we would inevitably be jinxed.
Well, leave it to the boy who loves his routine and adapts terribly to change-I have plans to run, and I mean RUN the Trolley Run for the first time ever tomorrow morning (I've walked it pushing baldy in the stroller for years)AND guess who's sick and in the hospital? 
My FAB 40th B-day party is next Friday, and we have some of my favorite relatives coming in town to celebrate with us, and guess who's sick and in the hospital?

Yep, you guessed it-Ethan. 

I know what jinxed us-we were in clinic on Tuesday doing the boy's intake interview for the Medical Coordination Clinic-and he was a PEACH!  I mean charming as heck!  Smiling, laughing, showing off for the new staff, following commands when we would ask to see his 'piggies' or tell him if he wanted out of his wheelchair he needed to raise his arms.  And he was ON!  We bragged about everything Ethan-height, weight, feeds, pooping, peeing -you know, all the important stuff.  I *gasp* even mentioned that I would like to see about getting back into the amazing Jodi Gamis -OT Feeding Specialist Extraordinaire-to work on some oral stuff that would maybe eventually lead us into some oral intake again someday.
 That was Tuesday morning. 

Wednesday was good. 

Thursday bad. 

Friday TERRIBLE.  He came home from school on Thursday with a note that said he took a nap that morning and another one in the afternoon which he had to be woken from to participate in music.   That should have been our first sign...which we ignored.  First mistake. 
The second one was when Brian put him to bed at 7:30pm that night and he was still asleep when I got home Friday morning at 7:30am and we didn't take him in then.
Needless to say, I was not surprised when Brian woke me at 12:30 and said we've got to go NOW.

Rolling into Children's Urgent Care North with a kid like Ethan usually gets you taken right back.  Rolling in there with a kid like Ethan whose sats are in the 70's gets you downtown in an ambulance pretty darn quick! 

So, here we've been since Friday afternoon.  On 3-5 liters of oxygen at any given time, lethargic and crabby. 
Negative for Flu, RSV and Pneumonia-just some 'peri-hilar thickening and haziness' on his Chest x-ray.  Pretty normal for the bald kid.  Sats in the 70's-not so normal-even with 'hazy' looking lungs. 
He was initially admitted under Dr. Kaine-Ethan's Cardiologist for fear he was in congestive heart failure.  BUT-upon admission Dr Kaine came in and took a good look at E, and felt that CHF is not the case right now(Thank goodness) and transferred him to the General Peds team with the agreement that if anything changed over the weekend, Cardio would happily take him back.  We are ok with the transfer-though we love Cardio-I like the Gen Peds team too, and his issues right now are not cardiac related.  What are they related to?  My best guess?  The fact that he has been taken off his Immunoglobulin infusions since January due to an adverse reaction to the concentration of the brand we had to switch him to per our insurance. 
For those of you remember fall of 2007 and most of 2008-Ethan had 10 admissions in 9 months, was a DNR at one point and we thought we would never be bringing him home, let alone celebrating another birthday with him!  We visited Dr Portnoy in Allergy/Immunology and he found the cause....Ethan has CVID or Common Variable Immune Deficiency.  So almost two years later of us doing home subcutaneous infusions weekly of immunoglobulin-we went from all those admissions in 9 months to 2 in two years!  So, do I think that was the fix?  YES-especially since we had to stop the infusions in January and we've had more sick days than normal since then.
Why did we have to stop it you ask?  He started out on Vivaglobin-a concentration of 16%, which he did fabulously with for a year and a half.  They stopped making the Vivaglobin-so insurance switched him to Hizentra-a concentration of 20%.  Less volume, less time involved, but lots more reactions.  Site reactions lasting two days, flushing face antihistamine reaction lasting 24-36 hours, and overall just plain crabbiness lasting from start of infusion until about one day before we were due to give his next one.  All those combined made for a cranky kid and unhappy parents.  Per Allergy-STOP immediately before the reactions get any worse, and wait til you hear from us about starting him on a new one-once the insurance company agrees to that -and to pay the $5000 a month it costs.  And when did we get the phone call that all of this had been approved and he is due to get his first infusion of Gamunex C in the next two weeks???  Monday-yep, 4 days before admission!  Oh well, that's how our boy rolls.
Over the two years on the infusions, he built up a nice immune system, but having been off for a few months now-our luck ran out, and so did his immunity to itty bitty viruses like rhinovirus (the common cold)  and his body's ability to fight them off without needing to be hospitalized. 
The Gen Peds team has contacted Immunology and they recommended checking his IgG, IgA, and IgE levels while he is here, and if low do an emergent IV infusion of IG if needed to boost him up.  Easier said than done if we could actually get a good IV on the bald kid.  Only 4 sticks this time to finally get one in his foot made Ethan a very unhappy boy!   I don't think it will last to do an infusion through tomorrow if needed, but we will hope and pray. 
The Gen Peds team also contacted Endocrine about E's adrenal insufficiency, and the possible need to do some stress dosing of hydrocortisone.  YES was the answer-right away, right now and a higher dose than what we normally do at home during illnesses.  ALSO-they recommend a re-test of his adrenal function to make sure it's not any worse than before and that we don't need to be medicating him all the time instead of just in times of stress-illness, prior to surgery, etc.  Those results will be back in the morning, and the plan may change then.  All of the symptoms Ethan had which brought us in this time coorelate with Addison's Syndrome, and adrenal crisis.  I never put them together, because he has been so well in the last two years.  But when he was initially diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency, we were warned about a possible lethargic state, accompanied by low blood pressure and GI issues which could put him in a coma-like state and possibly death to which we would have to give him a shot of dexamethasone and call 911 immediately.  Fortunately this time wasn't like that -but well could have been had we let him linger on with this illness any longer before taking him in.  Honestly-we are pretty on top of the little guy and he crashed hard and fast this time-I had no idea I would see sats of 70 when they hooked him up at UC.  So I've learned my lesson this time, and I will be the crazy, over-bearing Mom now for a while again, until I feel like I can breathe a little easier.

Sorry so long, lots going on with the little guy-will update as soon as we know more.

Good Luck Hailey!

Hailey's last volleyball tournament of the year is tomorrow-so GOOD LUCK CLUB NORTH 14-5's!  Play hard and play  to win-but most of all, enjoy the fabulous club season you all had!  I am so proud of Hailey's success and drive to get over her injury and back on the court!  Love you Hay Jay!!

love, hugs, and prayers,
K



Spurs & S'mores for our Seven year old!

Ethan Charles age 7 on 3/30/2004 
our very special lil' cowpoke!

Ethan is so done with his party!

love the look Ethan is giving Parker?!?!?

We celebrated Ethan's 7th Birthday in true cowboy style last weekend complete with cowboy hats, bandanas, sherriff's badges and s'mores.  Brian nixed the ponies-so we had to make due with a bandana on the dog!

I want to thank everyone who came and celebrated with us.  It means so much to Brian and I-mostly me-to plan and execute a party for our little guy.  I will admit, I tend to go overboard a little with him-we just feel so lucky each birthday we get to cherish the year we just spent with him, and plan for the next.  We learned a long time ago to never take our time with him for granted, and make the moments count.  So, really, these parties are more for me, as he could care less what everyone is doing at the house-though he does really enjoy the undivided attention he gets!

 Everyone always asks what to get him, and we struggle more and more each year with what to tell people.  So much so that Brian and I were arguing in ToysRUs ourselves -I wanted to get him a play gym with bright colors and toys above him to entice him to grasp at something.  Brian wanted to get him a "toy made for a 7yr old-not a baby" as he wanders down the Power Wheels aisle....sure Brian-let's get him a battery operated jeep, or monster truck-or even a Harley.  We could duct tape him in it and put his foot on the gas and let him go hog wild around the neighborhood.....I would put a helmet on him too-just for safety's sake....really??  WTF are you thinking?  I KNOW he is chronologically 7 years old, but he's not REALLY 7 years old.  Guess who won???  I'll just say Ethan is now the proud owner of a Baby Einstein Ocean Wonders Play Gym-which he enjoys quite well I must say!   Don't get me wrong, these are the exact times that I am sad for Ethan's challenges-buying 'age appropriate' birthday gifts, watching nieces and nephews and kid's friends get ready for baseball season,  having him be the first of 5 kids in our family to turn 7 this year-but will always be the 'baby'.  My nephew Kellen was having a hard time with that himself as he was looking at Ethan's cake with a '7' on it.  He couldn't believe Ethan was older than him and was very confused-Kellen's 7th birthday is in July. 
Anyway, I always get a little melancholy when his birthday rolls around, though I love our Holland-I know I will always wonder what Italy would have been like.....my special needs Moms will get my reference ;)
So Thank You to my family and friends who indulge me every year with crazy themes and birthday cake fiascos, and thank you for loving our litte guy!

I gotta throw out some Happy Birthdays to the other four 7 year olds this year:
My nephew Adam-April 5th
My niece Abby-April 15th
My niece Hana-June 29th
My nephew Kellen-July 17th

Can't wait to celebrate with you all too!

Blizzards, Balls, Sickness, Injuries-just another day in our lives....

Sorry it's been soooo long since my last update!  As you can see by the pics-we have had a 'blizzard' in KC!   It actually didn't cripple the city too badly-I made it to work both days of it that I had to work-with the help of my husband's truck anyway!  Our neighborhood, and most the area did live with one lane of traffic for about a week-but definitely survivable!  The wind chill was too cold for kids to sled, so we spent some lazy days around the house-and me hitting the gym!





me standing in our front yard after the 'blizzard'

our front walkway

our driveway

 Brian and I and our awesome PD friends attended our second Policeman's Ball.  It was a blast, and raised funds for the families of officers killed in the line of duty.  It was a great night-ok all day event-with fab friends that started with pedis at 0930 and ended with breakfast at 0330.....with a whole lotta alcohol and laughs in between!  Looking forward to next year (right Oliver???)           ps....lots more pics(some slightly inappropriate) on FB


Policeman's Ball 2011
Love ya ladies-Andrea, Jenn, Michala, Andrea, Heather



Hailey's team placed 3rd in the Parkville Pow Wow out of 19 teams, and though she played awesome, she injured her shoulder at this tourney.  She has a partial tear of her rotator cuff, and a small effusion at her AC (acromioclavicular) joint.  In layman's terms....pain, pain and more pain.  No more volleyball for a while as she gets physical therapy to help strengthen her shoulder muscles.  She played in another tournament after the Pow Wow, and just made it worse.   So, per her surgeon and PT, with some rest and strength-her VB career is not over-just delayed.  There are 4 more tournaments scheduled, and she will probably be able to play in the last 2-maybe 3.  She's pretty bummed, but gets why it's important to take it easy at age 14 and not ruin it for high school!






On top of all that, Ethan has been a wreck for the last few months.  In the process of trying to figure out what is going on with him, we are worn slick with little sleep and a crying kid who can't tell us what is wrong! 

Is it his gut? 

Is it his immunoglobulin infusions? 

Is it is secretions?

ARGGH!!!

We've been to ill clinic, Pulmonology, ill clinic again, Medically Complex Clinic, his Pediatrician, andGI this week.....waiting for calls back from Allergy now.  Good news is-this week he has been the best ever-minus his Robinul for secretions and his immunoglobulin infusion, adding Prevacid.  So, who the heck knows whats wrong with him.  I stopped the meds and figured we would add them back in one by one as we saw symptoms that give us the need for them. 

AND.....Parker was diagnosed with Influenza A this week!!  So far all of us here are feeling pretty crappy, but none of us except for him have the full blown, body aches, coughing, sniffling, fever type of Flu A-including the bald kid.

Wow!  who would have ever thought I'd be posting that HE is the healthy one with a terrible virus in our house???? 

SSSSHHHH don't tell him!!

Speaking of the little bald guy, Ethan, is turning 7 in about a month.  It is so hard to believe he is actually that old.  Though my baby he will always be!  We will be celebrating with a low key Cowboy party at home complete with riding and roping! 

So put yer boots on, saddle up, and head on over for his

S'mores and Spurs 7th Birthday Party on Saturday April 2nd

I am fast approaching the big 4-0! and my amazing hubby is planning a bash to rival all bashes we have thrown.  Complete with a DJ-the fabulous sounds of DJ Dave Reyburn of Soundgate Productions,  my hubby and Aunt Kathy's famous smoking of pulled pork and brisket and Southwest Beans, delish cupcakes courtesy of a great friend and neighbor of my sisters, and of course lots of bubbly, beer and dancing into the wee hours with some of the greatest friends and family a girl could have!!  Anyone free on Friday April 22, head on over for an awesome time!

I have still been working out with my trainer extraordinaire, though have had a really hard time getting back into it since my surgery.  My diet is terrible, and with the lack of sleep and sick kiddos, my time at the gym has definitely suffered.  It is all just a bunch of bullcrap excuses, I know.  I just need to get my head in the right place and realize that I am not at my best as a wife, mother, daughter, sister or friend if I'm not AT MY BEST!  So, with that said, I am making a new pledge, tonight, here and now...it's hard core til 40!  We are trying to work 3 sessions a week for me with James into the budget, and that will definitely help keep me on track and more accountable.  I just have to keep telling myself-I am worth it, and I deserve it!  And we are buying a boat for this summer at the lake and my fat behind is not yet ready for a swimsuit!!!    So, if you are reading this and sometime between now and April 22nd see me, a hug, a word of encouragement, and a tackle to pull me off the Coke fountain will be much appreciated! 

Oh, and check out my trainer's new website-he has an incredible connection to one of the American Idols contestants Chris Medina.  Read it, and buy a bracelet to help out with medical expenses for Chris's fiancee Julianna!

http://www.jameshanton.com/

love, hugs, prayers, clean eating and cardio!

K

Bye-Bye 2010......Hellooooo New Year!!!

Cheers to saying good-bye to 2010, a pretty darn good year for our family:

Ethan had only 1 hospitalization the whole year

We moved into a wonderful home in an awesome neighborhood

Hailey made a club volleyball team, and is doing fantastic in 8th grade

Parker is learning to play the saxaphone and has made some great friends in our neighborhood

Brian and I have both lost 20lbs each and are continuing down the path of healthier lifestyles

We took a FABULOUS vacation to Disney World, and got to see my kids first experience in the ocean

These are but a few things I can say about 2010 that made it a great year, and though we may be sad to see such a great year go, we are only looking forward to making new, wonderful memories in 2011!

We had a great Christmas, spent with family and friends.  We tried not to go overboard on the kids since I hadn't been working for about 5 weeks, but I still feel like we got everything they asked for!  I got a couple new beads for my Pandora bracelet, a new Bose alarm clock/radio/CD player for my nightstand, and  12 more weeks at my personal trainer!  I'm still not sure if those gifts are meant to be insulting....after all nothing says 'I love you, honey' like an obnoxiously big alarm clock reminding me to get up off my ass and get to the gym, huh???  Oh, well-no insult taken, just happy to have 12 more weeks of James kicking my ass into skinny jeans! 




Hailey and Parker's new hoodies



Brian and I at his squad party



Ethan's new North Face jacket



My beautiful children



I finally went back to work the week of Christmas, my entrapped nerve started to heal nicely, and I even made it to the gym a couple of times.  Though I will have to say today was the first day I even pushed myself very hard, and I did manage to do a steady 50 minutes on the elliptical!  I am hitting the gym hard 6 days a week until the Policeman's Ball in February-gotta look smokin' hot for it!

We took Ethan to the dentist on the 27th.  It was time for his cleaning, and he has had two really loose baby teeth that I'm pretty sure have been bothering him for a while now.  I made Brian go with me to hold him because I was pretty sure Dr. Erica was going to yank those puppies out and since I was also pretty sure that Ms Kim was not going to want to inject him up with numbing stuff, I didn't want to be the bad person!  Yep, I was a coward and made Daddy hold him.  Ms. Kim and Ms. Whitney got his teeth all cleaned and pretty and white, and then when Dr. Erica came in, Kim showed her his two loose teeth, and before I could count to three she had flicked 'em both out!  Of course that was followed by some serious yelling, and real tears, but once the bleeding stopped, Ethan was just fine!  Once again, a huge thanks to Family Dental Care for taking such great care of our special little guy! 



Ethan at the Dentist.  Look Mom, two teeth all gone!!  (the two tiny holes on the bottom middle -his permanent teeth were already trying to grow in!)



We have added  a new member to our family....introducing Heidi, our German Shepherd!  A fellow copper found her in the inner city and couldn't keep her because she already has 3 dogs, so she got a hold of Brian, and we took one look at her and fell in love instantly!  She has been living on the streets for a while, as she is pretty underweight and has whipworms, but she is an awesome dog!   Someone spent some money on her, because she has already been spayed, is leashed trained, potty trained, and kennel trained.  But she is not microchipped.  We had the clinic check twice because if she does belong to someone else who is missing her like I know we would be, we wanted to make sure she got home.  But no, and we haven't seen any signs up looking for her, so now she's a Rawley!  She and Harley are getting along marvelously, and though initially very timid, she is coming out of her shell nicely now and starting to act like a playful puppy.  She has quite the personality! 

That's about all for 2010, as the year is now 'last year' I look forward to what 2011 brings our family and yours.  I will post our New Year's Resolutions in a few days, as we are going to sit down and discuss what we as a family would like to accomplish in this glorious new year.  We have already had some discussions along the lines of helping others, and devoting more time to charity, and of course the all time resolution to get back into church (you got us Andrea and Michala!!)  I have already started one of mine by comitting to a bible study class with my sister Kim and my Dad's wife Teresa.  We are starting out with the book of Esther, and I am looking forward to starting it in another week.  (Don't choke Wolz....)

Most of all, we just hope to have a safe, happy and healthy new year, to keep all of the wonderful friends we already have and adore, to mend any broken fences with estranged family and friends, to continue to make new forever friends and to never forget where we come from and that with dreams and goals and drive and determination anything is possible!

Much love, lots of hugs and many prayers for your New Year to bring you the best!







Congratulations....It's a Teratoma!!

Teratoma, Greek terminology which roughly translated means ‘monstrous tumor’, and often contains hair, teeth, skin, and sometimes organs. That is what the pathology came back as from the mass removed from my ovary. Or, as I like to call it, my hairy, toothy baby! Funny thing, the very first Ultrasound tech who scanned me-Allison-thought that’s what it was right away. But all of the Radiologists who looked at it never once thought that was what it was!


Anywho-that is not what is important, what IS important is that it was entirely benign! No trace of cancerous cells at all! It took a long time for path to come back-8 days-because of all the different layers of the teratoma, and they tested every single one. Dr. Morgan had to remove my whole right ovary also, because the mass had all but completely overtaken it. He opened up a little over 3/ 4 of my c-section scar, more than he had intended to, but once he saw how bad the mass and right ovary looked-he needed to look around and find my left ovary to make sure it was ok so I would at least be left with one functioning ovary. For those of you who are not medical or grossed out by such stuff we crazy people often discuss over meals as if talking about the weather, I will stop there with the play by play of my surgery! So, I recovered, meanly, I might add, for a whopping 3 hours in the recovery room where I was like a nasty drunk coming off a 5 day bender as I came out of my anesthesia. I called people by totally wrong names-Brian became ‘Brindy’ and ‘Brandon’, and I took every drop of morphine they offered me, only to slur my words and fall asleep sitting straight up holding a cup of broth!   Thanks only to my Mom and Sister, Kim, that I never spilled any on me! 

I spent that night in the hospital, and went home early the next day feeling like a champ! It was all downhill from there! I spent the next 5-6 days feeling perfectly terrible, living on Ibuprofen 800, and Vicodin. When they called me with the path results, I asked if I should be feeling better-and that I had almost used up all of my pain pills and I was having a hard time deciding each night whether to take 2 Vicodin and drink 1 glass of wine, or take 1 Vicodin and drink 2 glasses of wine! And once I was all out of pain meds, I was gonna need a bottle of wine and 2 shots of whiskey! Dr. Morgan wanted to see me right away saying I should not still be feeling that bad! Lo and behold…..the pain is being caused by an entrapped nerve in my pelvis from the surgery and subsequent inflammation! GREAT! I was supposed to be going back to work this weekend, umm not now! Not to mention I can hardly walk up my steps and get into my bed, so obviously no working out yet either!

Uggh-so frustrating and helpless is how I feel! I can’t lift Ethan out of bed, or into his wheelchair, or into his car seat, so Brian and the kids have to do all of that-which often means Brian gets only a few hours of sleep each night before I have to wake him up to put E in his wheelchair for school each morning! In the meantime, I am taking a high dose anti-inflammatory, and steroids to help with the inflammation and resting, and doing ice and heat, and basically nothing seems to help! The pain is there every day, sometimes worse than others and sometimes with random movements. Like for instance, when I reached up with my right arm to pull the hatch of the van down, I thought I was going to die, or when I reached across my body to pull my seatbelt on, my leg felt as if someone was stabbing a burning hot poker into it! And coughing and sneezing? Well forget me looking halfway normal doing either-I’m like bent over holding my pelvis and leg hoping not to fall down! I see Dr Morgan back next Friday to evaluate whether the nerve is any better, and if not talk about a possible different approach-hopefully not surgery.

I am addressing Christmas cards now, got the house decorated, oh, and we bought a new truck! Almost all of the Christmas presents are purchased, though I’ve not managed to wrap any, but I have managed to hide them from my children. I’ve found that if you put them in the same closet where you keep any cleaning supplies whatsoever, your kids will NEVER find them!

I apologize to all of you for taking so long to get the path results out to everyone, I know people were worried. But it is nice to know that I have a friend who already had my obituary written and ready to send to the local papers when she hadn’t heard from me for a few days and just knew I was planning my course of treatment for my newly found cancer! AND she knows me well enough to know that my obit needed to be very colorful and HAD to include what I died from! Thanks Jody-I love you!


I hope you are all enjoying your holiday season, and have a blessed Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah, or however you and your family celebrate this time of year. You are all in my thoughts and prayers for a Happy, Healthy New Year!

My greatest achievements!

I just had to post these on here for all to see!  Thanks Brandi for beautiful pictures of my children-again!!!

http://www.bnwphotography.com/

No news is.....LOTS of news!

I will preface this post with telling you that if you read Ethan's carepage-this post will be the same. I have technologically challenged friends and family out there-some who read one, some who read the other but I have LOTS of news to share and wanted to make sure I cover everyone!!

First off-Ethan had surgery on his right ear in early October-they removed his right ear tube which they felt was no longer doing any good, put a paper patch on and took a 'looksie' at his terribly deviated septum and adenoids. Adenoids look great, septum looks terrible-but nothing Dr. Bruegger will do anything about right now-
1) because it would me 1-2 hours of surgery time to chisel away bone and stretch cartilage and he doesn't feel comfortable spending that much time in the OR with the bald kid
2)because he is so young and his face is still growing, and doing that type of surgery on him could alter the way his face continues to grow. And since we think it's pretty cute as is, we are happy leaving it as is!
So, after much drama in the recovery room, afterward, a couple days later, and a script for some Flonase and antibiotic-we have our 6 week follow up on Monday, and might need to re-visit tubes, because, alas, it appears that having that hole closed up is causing him to retain some pressure and pain back there-much like the reason we did the tubes in the first place!! UGH!!!
Oh, I almost forgot-Ethan has officially remained hospital in-patient free for just over one year! AMAZING, I know!!! Hopefully I didn't jinx us just now!

Update on Hailey now. Soooo proud of our girl-she finished off her first volleyball season as Captain, Most Positive girl on the team, and helped carry them to 2nd place in the District! They played very hard, good games but lost such a close game to Antioch(their rival!) AND she tried out for Club Volleyball (competitive teams-not sponsored by a school-but by private volleyball clubs) and made a Regional Silver Team! YEAH!! Her practices start this week, and her tournaments will begin in January lasting thru April-I will send out a schedule! Hailey has also made the Renaissance list for Academic Excellence at school-all A's and one B!

Our boy, Parker, well, he is Parker, what can I say??? He has become quite the social bug of the neighborhood! He has lots of boys his age that live close, and he is wearing out the paths to their homes. He has gone to two of the TNO's at school (Teen Night Out) These are events at the school, chaperoned by teachers and parents on Friday nights each quarter where the kids go and hang out, dance, use the art rooms, the computers, the gym, and even had a Haunted House at the last one. I was the Mom who drove 'to' the event at the last one, and whew! I knew there must be some cute little girls out there he and his buddies have their eyes on from the smell of all the Axe cologne they had on! I had to roll the windows down just to handle it! He is playing the saxaphone and loving it! He has been practicing alot, and has almost mastered 'Jingle Bells' and 'Ode to Joy' which he plans to play for us all on Thanksgiving. I need to get my nephew Taylor to learn 'Jingle Bells' on his guitar, and we will have quite the music ensemble going! Parker has also made the Renaissance list for Academic Excellence! We are very proud of him!

Brian is continuing to work out with James-just reached his 10 week mark, and the progression photos James took of him are amazing! He has lost 20lbs total, is feeling incredible, and has to wear his belts on the last hole! I told him the other day he looks like a scarecrow with his shirt tucked in and his belt so snug to hold his pants up that they gather around his waist like a stuffed man! He is still working evenings/nights for the PD, and just finally got a complete crew of guys after some transfers and injury losses, and our city has certainly kept them busy!

I, too, just passed the 10 week mark with James, and same as Brian, I have lost 20lbs total! My body fat is only down 5%, but the inches have dropped off! My normal scrub pants are hanging off of me, and I had two people comment on my butt(or loss of) last week! That is the point folks!! My progression pics look like I got a butt lift and lost a chin and some back fat! I won't be done with James until January at least-if I stay on track and get down where I want to in 20 weeks.
In the meantime, I will have a little setback because my doctor has finally decided to remove the mass on my right ovary next week! I am having surgery on the 23rd, and will be off work for about 3 weeks-with no lifting of the bald kid for the first week and a half for sure.
Yes, I know Thanksgiving is Thursday, and yes,we are having it at my house, and YES, I am ok with that! I actually am looking forward to it being at my own home where I can go up and lay down in my own bed if I need to rest!
I unfortunately can't have it done laparoscopically because it is too big now, AND my doc does not feel comfortable draining it internally to remove it through a little bitty incision since we still really don't know what it is. So, I will have another little incision above my c-section incision and he will remove it through that and if he can salvage any of the ovary he will, but if there is any possibility that any mass tissue will be left if he leaves any of the ovary-it's coming out too!
We will have to wait for pathology to come back on it before we know what we are dealing with, but until then, refuse to worry and fret! We have enough other stuff to keep us busy!

I had my dear friend Brandi take the kids pics again this fall-and the turned out MARVELOUS as usual! To view them all go to the link below and you will have to enter the

event name:Rawley October 2010
passcode is: 20060670
http://seeyourphotos.net

I don't know how I will choose which to use for the Christmas card! They are all so good!

That's all for now-like I said, No news is LOTS of news around our house-but mostly good news too!

I wish I could list all the things I am truly thankful for, but this blog is simply not long enough. I approach another Thanksgiving with joy in my heart and love in my life for the amazing blessings God has brought our family. I am thankful for all of you, my friends and family and for the love and support you have always bestowed upon us in good times and bad!

May you all have a wonderful, joyous Thanksgiving!

*sorry I couldn't post any pics from Halloween, volleyball, etc., Blogger is giving me a hard time! I will figure it out and post some soon though! Probably while I'm laying in bed recovering over the next 3 weeks!