Christmas Craziness

Chrsitmas Eve, Makenna and I spent the evening with mom and dad. Then Christmas morning, Mom and Dad came to our house. What fun it was to open presents under our own tree this year. I really think Makenna enjoyed being at home. I cooked, which is ironic since I can't eat for 7 weeks, but I managed to make it though the sweet smells. It's easier than I thought to keep things simple.

Makenna primping for chrurch on Christmas Eve


Princess Makenna all grown up.


Makenna and Kyra. Aren't they the cutest


Christmas morning waiting for Nana and Pop

Trying out the new jeep. Loves the working
radio more than anything else. My girl loves her music!

Christmas Eve Magic

Christmas Eve started this year like any other Christmas Eve. Finishing last minute shopping/wrapping, rushing to get ready for Chruch, dinner at mom and dad's and opening a few gifts.

I was getting ready to leave to pick Makenna up from daycare at about 12:00 when the door bell rang. A woman I had never seen before had a cute little basket that she handed me. When I opened the basket, there was an 8 week old Yorkshire Terrier puppy inside along with all the "fixins". A pink bed, a pink sweater, a pink color, a small bag of food, treats, blanket etc. Before I had a chance to run after this woman to find out who is was, she was gone!

Not more than 3 weeks ago, our little white Bichon, Miley, ran away! Since I had just had surgery and couldn't drive, I did all my Christmas shopping online this year. As all you online shoppers know, nothing EVER arrives as it was ordered. A box here and there over the course of several weeks. Needlesstosay, I got to know the UPS man pretty well. What a swell guy too, He knew I couldn't life anything so he always made me one of his last stops so he could bring the packages inside. He's married and has a young family and talks about them like any doting husband/dad would. A few weeks ago, we had a week of REALLY cold nights -- 18 below a few nights with wind chill---BRRR! One night he came to deliver a package and Miley took off out the door. By the time I got my shoes and coat one and got Makenna ready to go outside, Miley was gone. I have called all the shelters, dog pounds, vet offices etc and no such luck. Makenna's heart was broken. There was no way I was going to get another dog. I can't go through this again. 2008 was a bad dog year for us -- Ok, just a bad year for us in general and I didn't want to rock the boat anymore. I slowly suggested to Makenna that Miley wouldn't be coming home. THEN...This happened. Who bought this puppy? Why? The only one I can think of is the UPS man,l but I'm not certain that's the case either. Regarless, This was a little dose of Christmas Magic for us and Makenna and I are both very happy.

Here is a picture of our newest addition - "Princess Gingerbread Spice" - A.K.A. "GINGER". She is all of 1 pound 6 oz. Very small, but very sweet. She's already going Potty outside. YAY!

GINGER

Never give up beliving in the Magic!

Oh, Makenna!

Things around my house have been less than stable in the past month and needlesstosay, Makenna is acting out. To begin with, she doesn't know who her mom is -- Me or Nana? She calls Nana mom all the time. I know my mom has hard a time being Mom and Grandma. Not an easy task I'm sure.

The other night Makenna woke up screaming in the middle of the night. She was complaining that her legs hurt. She would let me hold her or anything. Of Course I was worried but figured it was just growing pains. Still convienced of that actually but to be sure I kept her home from school on Monday to observe how she acted and walked. All was fine!

This morning she peed the bed (yes, she was sleeping with me) at abut 2:30am. We moved to her room to complete the night and as soon as we got there she started complaining of her ear hurting. Great! What else can hurt...Legs, ears....UGH! I got her to school and after an additional day home, she cried. I feel sorry for her because things in her little world haven't really been normal for a few months now. I left her crying knowing she would soon stop and go about her day doing art projects and playing with her friends. Not more than 2 hours later, I get a call from the school that Makenna is still complaining of her ear hurting and she "looked" sick. Great! She just had an ear infection 3 weeks ago so I'm thinking it's not possible for her to get another one right away. So, I went to get her and as soon as I got there she was happy, running around, playing and enjoying herself. What happened to the hurting ear? At this point, I knew she was faking so she could come home and do fun things. Little does she know, I sleep a lot during the day still recovering from surgery. So, to teach her a lesson, I took her to the doctors. I talked to the doctor before we got there and shared with her what I was suspecting was gaoing on. She played along and when she was done with the exam, she told Makenna she needed to go back to school and the doctors were for sick kids and she shouldn't make up things. WAY TO GO DOCTOR! We talked about loosing privlidges and we all have to do things we doon't like to do. I.e. Mommy doesn't always like going to work, but I do.

When I picked Makenna up from school today I asked her what she was doing tomorrow. The response was "I'm going to school and I wont even cry". We'll see if that's the case tomorrow, but it's a good start.

Updates

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. It's been a crazy few months.

I had stomach surgery on November 25th. The surgery seemed to go well then I had some internal bleeding and had to have several blood transfusions. What was supposed to be 2 days in the hospital endedup being 5. Boy was I glad to get home. Home for 10 days after surgery was my folks house. It was nice to have someone there incase I had complications but I was ready to come home. I still really weak and my stomach still hurts alittle. The dizziness I think is the biggest issue. Hopefully as I regain my strength, that will go away. Only time will tell though.

Makenna is doing well. She sure enjoyed being with Nana and Pop for 2 1/2 weeks but is back at home with me. She is excited about Christmas this year and is looking forward to a visit from Santa. I'm excited too. Which I was feeling a little better to enjoy it more. I barely got the tree up let alone any other decorations. ;-)

Think that's about it for now. More posts in a few days.

Trick or Treat

What a beautiful Halloween we had. We haven't seen snow yet which is unusal for Colorado and I think Halloween was the warmest on record. It was in the high 70's all day. We went trick or treating in just light weight jackets. The bad thing is the kids never went to bed. My door bell was ringing at 11:30. YIKES!

Anyway, Makenna and I went to mom and dad's for dinner then we went trick or treating up and down their block. Makenna thought it was great! Then we headed home and Mom and Dad headed to Castle Rock to go Trick or Treating with Kyra and Matthew. We would have gone but Makenna has been fighting a cold all week and I didn't want Kyra to catch anything. Getting her sick woouldn't be good.

Here are a few pictures of my little witchlit.

Same 'ol Same 'ol

Life seems to be standing still right now. This is such a busy time of the year yet there doesn't seem to be a lot going on. As a family, our focus is Kyra and doing what needs to be done to get her well. Personally, I spend most of my free time doing research - free/discount air fare for Kids with Cancer, 2nd opinions, The ronald mcdonald house etc. It seems to be never ending yet the internet is often times, less than helpful. Or, as the case may be in this case, very misleading. It's been 3 weeks and we still don't have a definative diagnosis on the stage/level or type of cancer. The doctors are still consulting on treatment as well although we are hopeful we will hear something soon.

As far as Makenna and I, the routines seem to be about the same. For all you that are working mom, you know what I'm going through. Get up, get ready for work, leave the house by 6:45, go to work, work until 4:30, pick up Makenna at 5:30, come home make dinner, bath time, laundry, maybe a little cleaning, and off to bed to do it all over again. By Friday's, I'm exchausted!!

Anyway, more updates soon!

Family Tragedy

As some of you are aware, on Wednesday, October 1, my precious five-year old niece, Kyra Elizabeth, was diagnosed with an inoperable malignant brain tumor. The position of the tumor, which surrounds the optic nerve, makes it too dangerous to attempt removal. Even if removal of the tumor was possible the only guarantee is that she would become blind, along with a strong probability that very little of the cancer that surrounds the tumor could be removed. Since Kyra was born deaf, sign language is her primary method of communication. She has a cochlear implant in her right ear to aid in her ability to hear, but that would most likely have to be permanently removed if surgery was performed. That option would take away much of Kyra's quality of life as she knows it today. A very tough situation indeed!!

The question now is can the cancerous tumor be treated with radiation or chemo-therapy? We won't know the answer to that question for another 2-3 days, maybe more, when the biopsy results are returned from the lab. If the cancer is low grade (soft tissue in and around the tumor), then yes the tumor can most likely be treated. However, if the cancer is high grade (hard tissue embedded in and around the tumor), then treatment is probably not an option. It's now wait and pray.

Needless to say, our family is all emptionally drained, especially my brother Eric and my sister-in-law, Candi. All of us are struggling with this, but Eric and Candi are taking the brunt of the news. Nearby family and friends are helping in whatever way possible.

My family believes in the power of prayer. If you do, the next time you pray, please say one for our precious little angel.