Bamboo Valley

Last night we took the kids out to Bamboo Valley Buffet for dinner. We were supposed to grill out at the park, but alas it got too late, and we scrapped our barbecue plans until today.
Taking all ten of our brood out to a resteraunt is never a minor undertaking. I say ten becuase we have our nephew visiting so that makes ten kids. For those who are wondering- its no different than nine. When we are seated, people stop and stare. I always hope silently that the babies are going to behave themselves and NOT throw food on other patrons. We knew we were taking a giant gamble. The babies had been at the pool for several hours in the water and in the sun and had only taken minimal naps. They were starving, they were tired and it was almost bedtime. The held up reasonably well. Isaiah was excellent. Alexandria was alright as long as the right foods were in front of her and her Daddy was paying enough attention and responding to her various whims. Sydney...well..Sydney was herself. She started off by stealing Alexandria's macaroni and cheese when her's wasn't forthcoming quickly enough. She made a huge mess and then ate the napkin we gave her to wipe her hands with. She smacked at her bowl of ice cream with her palms, she threw chicken around the table.
Perhpas best of all was our nephew Preston who flew under the radar for most of dinner due to his good behavior. He had two plates of food and then went up for ice cream. Over the course of time, I noticed that though he was actively licking, his ice cream cone never really decreased in size- it remained full and tall. Finally it occured to me that this must not be the same ice cream cone, he must have gotten a few.
"preston?" I asked him. "Is that like...your third ice cream cone?"
"NO" he said quickly and then smiled..."It's my fourth!"

The Conversation

A couple of nights ago, my seemingly annual conversation with Brandon esued once again. Over time he has become more direct and this was perhaps his most pointed.
"Mom," he said, "Are you pregnant again?"
"No, Brandon I am not. Why do you ask?"
"Because, when you are grouchy, it's usually because you are pregnant. And lately you've been very grouchy."
"No Brandon, I am not pregnant. Just grouchy." I answered him.
"Well...isn't it almost time for you to be pregnant again?" I tell you this kid doesn't stop.
Albert interjected at this point. "Brandon, your Mom isn't on some type of time table or deadline where she HAS to be pregnant at a certain point in time."
"I was just asking" Brandon answered. Then he got up and left the room.

As if this wasn't hilarious enough, last week, at Brice's end of the year Pre-K Pizza Party, I was informed by another Mom that rumor has it that we are indeed expecting again. Apparently, her son had come home and told her that Brice was going to have another brother or sister. I nearly choked on my juice box as I scrambled to tell her that no, we are NOT pregnant again.
We have discussed the issue of family planning and at times, I miss being pregnant (brief, fleeting moments of time) and certianally I hope that God will one day bless us with another baby. We all know why. Sometimes I even think that I would like another baby NOW. But, mostly, I am quite content to wait it out for a while, at least for several more months. It's nice to have my body to myself for a while. It's nice to not be constatly tired and achy. It's nice to have enough energy to play with the babies I already have without feeling the incessant need for a nap. Mostly, its nice to let my body rebuild its supply of nutrients, stores and minerals and not to deplete it constantly. Plus, I really think Bree is enjoying being our babiest baby at the moment. Nine is a good number and most days I'm in no rush. Albert is in no rush on any day. He is adamant about waiting. Most days, I am on that page too.
Have I really been that grumpy though?

Country Fun

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our Joyful Weekend!

(Ashley, me, Dad, Mom, Katie) (Ashley, Me, Dad, Katie)

(Jackson reading his poem -The 12 Disciples)

(Drew and his siblings and cousins)

(too many grandkids...)

(Tatum and Alexandria kissing)

Our weekend was amazing. Drew was baptized and Bree was blessed! What an amazing celebration of life.

To add to our joy, my DAD suprised us and visited from Pennsylvania! My mom and sisters, Katie (and her children Preston, Cameron &Kylie) and Ashley (and her hubby Justin and children Abbi and Tatum). Albert's Dad and step-mom came down and his sister Michelle (and her sons Jaylen and Josiah) and Al's uncle Ron and Aunt Pat and cousins David and his wife Jess and cousin Christy came down.

I was so unprepared for my Dad's suprise, but so excited! My mom and sisters and I were sitting in lawn chairs having a drink outside on Friday night after the babies had been put to bed. I saw a shadowy figure walking down the sidewalk near our house but didn't think anything of it- there are always folks walking around our neighborhood. Then, the "figure" walked into our yard and I thought, "who is that in my lawn?" Then, I realized that the "figure" walked a lot like my Dad, and had the same build. Then I realized that the "figure" was indeed my Dad! I ran across the yard and yelled "Is that my Daddy?" My sisters and my Mom did a fabulous job and pulled off a great suprise. Amazing. We had three days together. My Dad got to see all my babies and my house and my church and my town. It was so surreal but so wonderful.

Our oldest baby was baptized surrounded by family and friends. We were so happy for him and so proud of him. Albert said he almost cried as he hugged Drew after the ceremony. I did in fact cry, espicially when Drew told me that he wished his beloved Grandma (Al's mom) had been there (she passed away a few years ago).

I will post a few pics now and then more as I get them. Our camera ran out of batteries and so I have a few from my mom's camera. I'll add the ones from Al's Dad's camera soon.

On a downer...Brandon came down with a fever on Saturday night. By Sunday morning he was feeling better but Sunday night he was burning up again. 105.again. Usually, he does okay even at this temp but last night he was having difficulty breathing when we went to bed, and was moaning and just generally very uncomfortable. We almost made the trip to the E.R. but he fell asleep just as I was getting ready to call Dr. Rob. He slept okay and woke up in a pool of sweat later once his fever broke. Today he felt well for most of the day but later in the afternoon got up to 104.3. Tomorrow I will call clinic.

The Notebook...

Spring cleaning is still in full effect, leaving little time for much else. I haven't posted much on my twins group the last couple of days so it feels a bit strange, like that nagging feeling that something isn't quite right...but I digress....
Last night, while helping Drew clean out his room with our good friends Sharon and Jeni, we came across an old notebook. It looked vaugely familiar. When I opend it, I discovered that it was the journal I'd kept when Brandon was first diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia. I had started it to keep up with dates and illnesses and most of all medications because when you have a child with a serious illness, those relatively mundane details can quicky become a jumbled mess in your memory. But last night it served another purpose. We've long ago reached the point when its no longer necessary to keep all his details in a journal. He no longer has anything going on that needs to be recorded in such depth. Usually, even with the nastiest of virus'- he'll only need a few days of IV Rocephin. We know he'll be feeling better soon...gone are the days when the unthinkable crept into our minds and hearts while we waited for a repsonse to heavy duty antibiotics, knowing that cultures had come back positive, and that he had no white cells to help him out. So much has changed in those four years. So much to be thankful for. I'd forgotten just how much until I took that trip down memory lane again. Here are a few of the excerpts from the notebook I found.

APRIL 10th- Admitted to St. John's Medical Center. Platelet count of 7,000. White cell count of 2. Needs blood transfusion. Needs platelet transfusion. What is happening?

APRIL 11th- Bone marrow biopsy done. Leukemia probably ruled out. Suspected diagnosis of Aplastic Anemia. What the heck is that? We stand outside the hospital, in the parking lot while switching off shifts. I comment on the fact that three of our babies have been born there. That it was always such an exciting, happy place for us. We saw three new lives into the world there. We pray together that we don't lose one there. Now the hospital seems different, changed. There are new realities there I haven't considered before.

APRIL 13th 7:00 pm discharged from hospital with neutopenic precautions. No fruit, vegetables, fresh flowers, dirt. Few visitors, no church, no malls, resteraunts, shops, stores. Outside places preferable. Dilligent handwashing.

APRIL 13TH 11:00 pm. Re-admitted to St. John's. Chest X-Ray shows Pnemonia. Great. Medicines started- Acyclovir, Difflucan, Zofran, Neupogen, Morphine along with the general Tylenol we've always been used to. I've never heard of most of these...
Surgery today to insert Broviac line in his chest.

APRIL 14th- Rest of family tested for HLA tissue typing. Dr. Rob is looking for cord blood units donated from Brice's birth.

APRIL 24th- Neupogen discontinued. Not working. Albert and I have HUGE fight in hospital lobby. In front of everyone. About smoking, but really about fear, lack of sleep, constant worry and more fear. Later Albert calls to tell me no one matches Brandon's HLA type. Fight immediately over. We both cry. Only three treatment options exist for this disease. One has just been taken off the table. Strike one. Plans for bone marrow transplant are changed to plans for immunosupression therapy. Too risky to use unrelated matched donor unless immunosupression won't work. We need to try this first.

APRIL 26th- Discharged home. Home health to provide treatment at home

APRIL 28th- Checked into PICU for second bone marrow biopsy. Platelet count 24,000. Transfusion given. Discharged home a few hours later.

MAY 2nd- clinic appointment. Platelets up to 66,000 (yea) . Called Dr. Rob that night ffor fever 100 degrees.

MAY 4TH- dr. Bob admitts Brandon for fever. 101.
MAY 5th- Fevers continue. 103.8. Started on Vancomyicin, fluconozole, fortaz, and then just benedryl. On a positive note, got permission from insurance to do immunosupression treatment as outpatient.
Learned Drew has FAs Gene. Possible Brandon may have it too?
MAY 6th- blood transfusion. Directed donation from Albert. Learned later that this was a huge no-no. We didn't know...
MAY 7TH-stopped Fortaz. Waiting to see what happenes with fevers. Maybe we can go home tomorrow???
MAY 8TH- got platelets transfusion. discharged home. yay!

MAY 10th- Started Atgamm at clinic. This is the chemo portion of the immunosupression therapy. Ran 102.8 temp. Unable to use bathroom. Also started Predinsone and Cyclosporine. He'll need these for a while as part of the immunopsupression therapy. Also on oral Difflucan at home- I think to treat any fungal infections??? Or maybe for yeast? I don't know anymore...

MAY 11th- Cried all day and night because of pain. Inability to use bathroom. IV morphine started.
MAY 13th- Last day of Atgamm at clinic! Yes! Needed platelet transfusion. Still on prednisone and cyclosporine longer-term...praying this works.
MAY 27th- fever at clinic. Ceftraz (sp?) started. Home health will bring more to the house. Also ordered saline and dressing changes...

MAY 28th- blood cultures positive. Back to clinic to check counts.
MAY 29th- 103.5 fever and chills. Blood work was positive for Grahm neg. bacteria. WTH?

JUNE 2- Positive cultures for three aditional bacteria's. Decision made to remove the broviac line and replace with something else. Scheduled for tomorrow.

JUNE 4th- Home. Broviac tube removed. Replaced with PICC line. Later that night, PICC line blew while flushin with saline. Home health came by. Removed PICC line and put in regular IV.

JUNE 5th- took Brandon to bone marrow drive. Probably shouldn't have had him out but felt it was important. Dr. Rob called our cell while we were there to say to immediatly stop the cyclosporine for a bit. Kidney functions were too high. IV would not flush. Dr. Rob admitted Brandon back to St. John's. again.

June 6th- still at St. John's trying to coordinate surgery to put new central line in. This time we are going with a port. Should be easier to take care of.

june 9TH-Surgery to implant port. Will need blood transfusion. Hopefully going home tonight..

Thats all I have in that notebook. I think I must have started the caring bridge website around then and was able to record everything there. Anyway, it was a rough road for a while but the lesson I learned (again. I swear I learn this lesson daily) was how incredibly blessed we are. Along with this journal, I found a mass card for our dear friend Nick. He passed away from Neuroblastoma. And again, I am confronted with the questions of why, why, why? Why the seeming randomness? Why do some kids get better and some kids don't?
Last time we were in clinic we ran into another friend, Elijah. Elijah had neroblastoma. Elijah got better. Elijah only comes to clinic for counts now every several months. My heart sings for him, and Brandon, and all the other kids who walked away from clinic better. But my heart breaks for Nick, and Madelyn and Lauren and Tuesday and all of the kids who didn't. And espicially for their Mommies. I do beleive that God is in control and I need to feel that this isn't all a roll of the dice. I know God has plans for each of us, but I can' t beleive this is the plan for anyone. Seriously, the hell that I just posted about looks like a cake walk to other families who have suffered with more worse prognosies and even uglier illnesses than Brandon's. Some friends would kill to ONLY go through what we went through.
Ahhh, life is confusing. But God is not confused. And he will make all things right. I know one day he will put Nick back into Kelly's arms and Tuesday back into Jess's arms. Waiting for that day...

Spring Cleaning!

We are down to only a few more days before our families arrive for Memorial Day!!! Yay!A week from today, Drew gets baptized! I am so proud of him. My very first baby is getting baptized....

Kambree is getting blessed on the same day. It's going to be very busy, and very special.

All this family coming in means one thing....cleaning time. This is obviously NOT my favorite part as I am a fairly messy person by nature (although I get a little more organized with each baby that is added to our family). I would pay to have Kate Gosselin's sense of organization, but sadly, I totally lack in that department. So, this weekend, I am cleaning out my bedroom, going through closets to pack things up and take to Goodwill (or some similar Goodwill type dropbox). We've all been very busy. Already, we have potted flowers, hung baskets of ivy, cleaned out our garage, I even painted an empty terra-cotta flower pot for the "smokers" to use so that my yard doesn't get covered in cigarette butts. Gross. Inside the house, we've hung paintings, hung pictures (that we've meant to hang forever), done TONS of laundry, re-arranged the china cabinet, all sorts of stuff. And we aren't even close to done. On Tuesday, the carpet cleaners will be here...that should be fun. Here are some pics of the infamous "garage clean out day". We kept the babies outside with us so they could play while we cleaned...okay..while Albert and the kids cleaned and I sat on the bench and "directed" the operation....But least you all think I got off easy...Albert is working at the Cardinal's baseball games ALL WEEK leaving ME with every single kid to clean lots of messy mess...the result will be totally worth it and we haven't had a big spring clean like this in...well, I don't know that we ever have...

Our Sweet Sydney is 18 months already...where did the time go?

Sydney in a bad mood...throwing her plate...

Sydney Paige, also known as Sydney Paige Beverly Rose (hey, I got emotional when it was time to sign the birth certificate...we wanted to honor both our Mom's...we may have gotten a little carried away...) is already 18 months old! What? When did this happen? Wasn't she just a little bity, tiny baby. She is a beautiful, gorgeous, mean little girl. Yes, I said mean. Sydney is best approached with the same caution you would use when getting close to say, an animal in the zoo. She's beautiful. Nice to admire or take a photograph of...but you don't want to get to close. She has sharp teeth and claws. She aggitates easily. She is prone to fits of violence. Oh, sure, she can be cute and cuddly. But one must always remember, she is wild. Approach with caution.

If you'll notice the second to last picture...this is what Sydney does when I can't pick her up. She hangs on to my legs and SCREAMS! Ahhhh, such a joy!

Really, I LOVE my little girl more than words can describe. Every day, every day, I wish I had more time to gobble her up. To breathe in her sweetness, her little "mouse eyes" and to nibble on her chucky cheeks. She does, afterall, tolerate ME rather well. Sometimes, I like to just watch Sydney walking around. Playing. Exploring. I can't get enough of her...well...at least until bedtime!

And The Winner Is...

...HEATHER OF THE EO!!!! Congratulations! Brandon drew a name out of a hat and you are the winner of the Applebee's giftcard. Enjoy!

I really want to thank everyone for participation in this auction/raffle. I know that the Whitt family is very grateful to each person who entered or participated in any way.

For those of you who didn't win (and even for those who already did) the fun isn't over yet. You can still click on the Tuesday Blog Party button because there are a few items that are still going on. Not just any items. Some friends of the Whitt's are auctioning off- get this-

A WEEK IN THEIR FLORIDA TIMESHARE and

THREE OVERNIGHT PACKAGES IN THEIR VICTORIAN BED AND BREAKFAST IN DENVER.

Can't you just picture yourself in the Florida sunshine or taking that romantic getaway and enjoying a night all by yourself at a beautiful, victorian mansion? Amazing...

click back into the same Tuesday blog party button you used to enter all the other options or click on http://www.fundraiserblog.blogspot.com to participate! Good luck!!!

Tuesday Blog Party ~ $25 Applebees Giftcard

From now until May 12th, I am holding this give-away to help benefit the Tuesday Fiona Whitt Foundation.
Tuesday was the beautiful twin daughter of my dear friend Jessica Kate who bravely fought and sadly lost her 8 month battle with stage 4 neuroblastoma in January of this year.
My friends and I from Jess' multiples group have decided to put together an annual blog party to help raise funds to fight pediatric cancer, specifically neuroblastoma, as it is the least funded of ALL cancers yet one of the most fatal :(

Up for Grabs:

$25 Applebees Giftcard

All you have to do to enter to win this auction is simply leave me a comment letting me know you are interested in winning this and then, be sure to donate $1 to the Tuesday Fiona Whitt Foundation.

Also, head on over to the Tuesday Blog Party to see what other fantastic items are being auctioned off by clicking the image below.

There are lots of great auctions going on and all it costs is one dollar to enter each one.
If you would like to make one donation, instead of many individual donations, please feel free to donate however is easiest for you.
If you end up donating $10, but only find 5 auctions you are interested in, you can use those additional dollars as additional entries :)

Thank you so much for supporting a great cause and remember to have fun!
Good luck!