As with most people I know, we've been all consumed by the Olympics. Every night we see what's on and gather round as a family to watch. AND it doesn't matter what it is. Speed skating, check; nordic combined, check; snowboard cross (the coolest!), check; downhill, check; and NOW, curling - check.
COME ON, really? An Olympic sport? Sure, it's like shuffleboard, but these folks don't even get to drink beer while they do it. So Collin and his buddy Dale have decided that they are going to recruit Collin's business partner Ron and they are going to form a curling team --- an old guys in denim overalls wearing shrimpin' boots and straw hats team. Wouldn't that be a riot? That would have a huge following, don't you think. No? Ok, I'll let them just dream a little then.

And, in the mean time, I'll be happy I have a DVR b/c I'm missing all my regular shows. Never fear Grey's Anatomy, Amazing Race, and all my shows that are too numerous to type. I'll be back.

'Piece of Cake' / No problem/ It's Over already?
That was basically Amanda's reaction to her gamma knife radiation treatment yesterday. We got there around 9:30 and they started the process right away. Ya know, more paperwork! Amanda passed the time by watching tv and checking out the equipment. She chose Daddy to go back with her as they did her anesthesia in the mask before inserting her IV. And then came the halo. Not the one I think our little angel normally wears, but the kind that screws into your skull. OW!!!!
We were able to sneak a kiss as they moved her from MRI to Gamma Knife. She was sedated the entire time. What's truly amazing is that they brought us back to her around 2pm and she was slowly trying to wake. And then, by 3pm she was awake, talking, walking and we were in the car heading home. A little ice on the forehead and like she said 'a piece of cake'......

THIS CHILD AMAZES ME!!!!!

(side note: I know these pictures are sometimes hard to look at but taking pictures of the process truly helps Amanda understand what they do. She often has no recollection of times I take pictures. It's all part of helping her process her recovery. It also helps me to keep in perspective how amazingly strong she is when I'm having a hard day handling her new parenting challenges.)

It's been so long since I updated that I'm almost too embarrassed to even start again. BUT I thought I would jump back in since I know some folks check in even though you don't comment (ahem, that means you!) We started 2010 off right with our traditional cabbage, black-eyed peas, and pork roast hoping it would bring money & health. Who could use a little more of that these days? We enjoyed having Grandma Hall's company until mid-January and then the home-made crepes and my 'crutch' were gone. Deep breath.

My days are mostly filled with assorted doctor appts./assessments/therapies for Amanda on top of her being here for her home teaching sessions. She is doing just AMAZING. She got her hair cut into a darling pixie cut that fits her sassy personality and it is really easy for her to deal with.She went back to her jazz and tap dance classes. No, I'm not kidding.......the child who was in brain surgery on Nov. 3, 2009 was back in dance class two months later. Her IEP is in the works so we are hoping she will be back in her classroom soon. However, please keep her continued recovery in your prayers. Her recent MRI revealed that she does in fact have a small 5mm spot that needs to be addressed. She will get a gamma knife radiation treatment within the next few weeks. We are praying that this will be the only extra treatment she needs (it's outpatient) and she will continue to make huge strides.

The other kids continue to handle this insanity well overall. Maggie is making me so proud with her new-found independence with regard to schoolwork and trumpet practice. This is from the winter concert. She is Ian's 6th grade buddy at school and she couldn't be happier. Now, if I could just get her a little more excited about cleaning her room. Sean has been in the heart of two school projects (now complete, phew!), finishing up basketball, and moving quickly into baseball. He's almost 10; how'd that happen? And.....Ian. He's working hard on learning to read, keeping his name off the board in the classroom, and totally EXCITED about baseball season. Oh yeah, he's excited about losing his teeth too

I've been trying to exercise on a regular basis. I am officially registered for the Irvine Lake Mud Run with three friends; I plan to be ready to KICK BUTT. Collin is trying to catch some sleep when he isn't working or coaching a sport. But most of all, we are busy ROOTING ON THE SAINTS!!!!!!!!!It's ALL ABOUT the black and gold Superbowl - WHO DAT!

Sunday can't come soon enough. GEAUX SAINTS!

A FINAL LOVE THURSDAY --
Ahhhhhh, some reflections to finish up blogging 2009.....
the much asked question --- where were you 10 years ago?

Let's see; I was about 33 weeks pregnant with Sean; couldn't breathe easy much less enjoy a New Year's. I had 19mo. old Maggie and we were anticipating closing escrow on our first home. WOW!!!! Look how much time has flown

Little did I imagine that my bouncing, baby boy that would be born in Feb. 2000 (first grandson on both sides of the family!) would become such a cool little athlete that I just love to pieces [when he isn't making me bonkers]

Now, 10 years later I can tell you that I would have NEVER imagined I would be a Mom of four children, but I can't imagine my life without them. My dear sweet Amanda.....my smallest baby/ little sweet pea/ colic newborn that I thought would do me in. There has always been 'something about Amanda' that everyone loves, and given our medical scare this year, it has just added to the fact that she is simply precious to us

And, then there is our family caboose -- my good luck charm, Ian. When I found out I was pregnant with him, I just wanted to cry. How was I going to survive having four children under six years old? Sure, many mothers have survived it, but this was Me. Holy cow! I was nervous. But once I met this sweet little guy all my nerves were calmed

The days of high chairs, Mom's Club, and preschool have come and gone. It seems unreal that it has been 10 years since the Y2K madness and all that the new millenium was to bring. For now, I'll make a resolution to treasure these days while my kids are little because before I blink it will be turning 2020.

Why wait for spring cleaning? Join me in my insane adventures. (if I didn't know better I'd think I was pregnant and nesting big time, I'm N.O.T.!!!)

It all started the day after Christmas. I had to shuffle some old toys out of the way to have a place for the new ones (in hopes that the boys would actually put them where they belong -- hey, a girl can dream). And it's been all If You Give A Mouse A Cookie style cleaning since then. I wound up completely gutting the boys' room; then my bathroom; then the hallway bathroom; then I vacuumed all upstairs; then I de-funked and prepped the fish tank for more fish; then I started Maggie's room (note: started, b/c it's going to take a while).......tomorrow is more for Maggie, the family room, and the downstairs floors.

What is wrong with me???? Normally, if I keep up laundry and dishes I count my blessings.

It DOES feel great to be getting all of this done. My plan is to conquer closets too before I run out of steam. Like I said, A GIRL CAN DREAM.

Holy Cow.......has it really been almost a month since I blogged? Really? Well, it must be that the blog posts are written in my head and I can't sit down long enough to actually type them out. Anyway, here I am.

Let's see -- Amanda Update: she had a g-tube placed on 11/30/09; used it for about five days and then started eating like a champ. Seriously, think George Foreman! The girl can eat! It was very frustrating to see that her eating would take off once the ng-tube was pulled, but we had no way of knowing. She did have to have some help learning to swallow, but it didn't take long. Her speech has also taken off; but she will get evaluations for additional assistance with that. She came home on Friday, 12/11/09. She doesn't really use her walker at home anymore but we keep that and her wheelchair handy for outings b/c she tires easily. After a bout of the stomach flu last Sunday, her g-tube came out unexpectedly. I hurried her off to the doc. to make sure there were no issues with the early (& hasty) removal and she is FINE :) A blessing in disguise --- she is tube free and medication free --- not even two months after major brain surgery. Our Christmas Miracle!

It is sooooo nice to be home. I was able to take Amanda to her classroom holiday party and that was nice; she enjoyed every minute. We've enjoyed shopping, wrapping, and all that the holidays bring. Including a bit of chaos -- Our 10ft. tree did fall down out of nowhere, but we only lost a few ornaments and no one was hurt. Four of us had the stomach flu AT ONCE; truly an ugly, nasty circus of buckets and beach towels...shudder.... Collin wrecked his truck today, but it was single vehicle and no one was hurt. I truly have to find the silver lining in most of what life is throwing us these days because I am ever so thankful to have my precious daughter HERE and healthy. She still has a long road of recovery but she has us helping her on that road.

I have more recent pictures to post but I'll save those for my next post. I promise it won't take me a month.

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!

I DO have other children. They are fairing well through this whole chaotic situation. We've tried to keep life as normal as possible with only a few hitches in the schedule. They are keeping Grandma Hall on her toes, but love having her here. Here they are.........my beautiful children 'cleaned up' for Thanksgiving; I didn't ask them to do this so it was a nice (and funny) surprise.

No shoes necessary; and Sean's case, no shirt either. Bring on the redneck jokes!

Pictures of our new normal --
Amanda's fancy tent-bed. She is quite the mover and shaker these days and for safety reasons we zip her in at night to keep her from climbing out unassisted.


She has had some fun visits with many therapy dogs. This is Cooper --
Her days are busy with speech, occupational, and physical therapies.
Maggie came for an extended afternoon visit last weekend and she spent some time reading with Amanda and just keeping her company.

Slow and steady wins the race.............and Amanda IS winning!

It's been three weeks.........three long weeks since I've heard my sweet daughter's precious voice. I lie here tonight snuggling next to her trying to quiet her restlessness and just be in the moment with her; trying to ease her confusion and frustration as to what happened to her. Does she truly understand? How can she; I still don't. I cry silent, hot tears lying next to her. What is she thinking? I wish I knew. I wish I knew how to reach into her fragile body and turn her voice back on, push the ON button for swallowing, and give her the strength to control her body without the aid of a walker.

She HAS come so far in these three weeks and for that I AM THANKFUL. I am thankful that she is a fighter with an independent spirit. I am thankful that she is making small improvements daily. I am thankful that she still works hard when her little body shakes with ataxia and is telling her to be done. I am thankful THAT SHE IS HERE!

And I am thankful for everyone of you out there who is sending prayers and well wishes to Amanda and our entire family. That is just the start of what I am thankful for. For years everyone has made fun of me for crying when I say what I am thankful for when we say grace before our Thanksgiving feast, well this year I will be crying again so pass me a tissue and tell me what YOU are thankful for.

Happy Thanksgiving!

A week of therapy......an AMAZING week of therapy.....and Amanda went from being able to hardly stand without complete assistance to walking with a weighted down walker with a little bit of support from me.
She's working hard at learning to use her mouth again. Still waiting on a smile and sound as well.


Core balance (gee, maybe I should be working right beside her!)
Working hard in the stylin' thera-togs suit

Bean bag toss and getting a workout

You've come a long way baby! Mommy is so proud of you.

Monday was full of hustle and bustle for Amanda......her peaceful slumber was disrupted this morning by a nice warm shower.

And then after a little rest, the physical therapy ladies came by.....I'm almost positive that her expression means YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME! She did make it a few yds. down the hallway assisted with a walker, but she had to ride in the wheeled chair with the therapy lady back to the room; she was just too tired. I'm so proud of her.

And then this afternoon she received a beautiful prayer quilt from our friends at Good Shepherd...I'm so amazed by the thoughtful generosity. After a short, wakeful time where I read her a story and talked to her for a bit, she cozied up under the quilt where she was literally wrapped in prayer. (of course, this was after she managed to pull our her NG tube for feeding and get a new one put in)

FIGHT SPUNKY MONKEY FIGHT!

ONE MONTH AGO.....she turned EIGHT; a spunky smily girl full of smiles and surrounded by presents.


Today she is surrounded by wires and prayers. And I'm searching for my spunky smily girl.


No matter what I'm right by her side......

SHOWERED WITH LOVE
That's what this little girlie is --
and this doesn't even begin to show the extra cards from assorted classes at school and theatre friends, more gifts that we are saving until she wakes, and the silent prayers that everyone has held in their hearts.

These next two pictures are from Tuesday afternoon, post op. She handled everything well; she is having a hard time waking up completely from the anathesia but she is responding to neuro-assessments and will nod her head slightly to answer questions.

her sweet little face was a bit swollen and she battled a temperature for a while too. I know she's a fighter; I just don't like her looking like a boxer.
And here she is today -- looking less swollen but still trying hard to wake up. So hard in fact that her thrashing and tube pulling got her strapped into these arm things the nurses like to call 'No-nos'. Basically they are soft and don't let her bend her arms to grab at things; a lot easier than the constant "NO, NO hold your animal" that I said all morning.

GREAT NEWS....the neuro-surgeon reviewed her post-op MRI (from today) and it looks great. He doesn't see any more tumor and said he will have another radiologist review it just to confirm. HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!
Next step, pathology results.
For now, I long to hear my sweet peanut say 'I'm hungry!'

Monday - November 2, 2009 --- a quiet, restful day for Amanda. Her ICP pressure was down consistently so the 1st surgery was a success. She still has pain and doesn't want any TV noise or much light, but she is eating a little and is being showered with loads of love and prayer.

On Sunday, CHOC has a radio station that they run in the afternoon (& a couple of times during the week). Amanda got a visit from the Radio Lollipop folks; they brought her gifts and crafts; she enjoyed watching the radio show on the TV and seeing the volunteer prank call down to the station from her room.

Today, another surprise visit........from the therapy dog, Missy. She is a 2-1/2 yr. old Sheltie who is just the sweetest, most gentle little dog. Amanda was quiet but just loved it. The dog liked licking Amanda's hand and Amanda just pet her a lot. (she REALLY misses Fritz)

And this picture is of the huge basket of yummy goodness that she got from family in Ohiothis is just a little taste of the unbelievable cards, letters, pictures, gifts, and FOOD that we are receiving. Our family is very blessed to be surrounded by such giving people.

At this point, we are going to need a small U-Haul just to get it all home.

What a difference a day makes.......
24 hours ago she looked like this; tossing me a thumbs up

And this morning; painting rocks

And stealing Mommy's new socks

And now, her little head hurts and she just wants to be trick-or-treating....


BUT she loves her new purple sparkly friend!

Loooooooong, exhausting, emotional day.......
Amanda was sent for a CT scan. The results came back abnormal, showing lots of fluid and a mass of some sort. She then went to MRI. Amanda is a rockstart patient! She laid still for the MRI and didn't make a peep.
The neurosurgeon was surprised that she didn't have any other symptoms besides the occasional headache.
We don't really know what tomorrow will bring. It is basically our first step along this crazy path.
No pain today so that was good; she is mostly sad that she is 'missing' Halloween and she doesn't understand why she has to be at the hospital. She was asleep when Collin arrived tonight and I left shortly there after. My dear friend Nicole had the kids while we did the hospital trade-off and my friend Sandee is here now (from AZ) to hold down the fort during this initial madness.

I'll try to figure out the internet at the hospital so I can update more.
Thanks for all your prayers and well wishes!

About Amanda.............it all started with a routine eye exam in early Sept. The doc. saw some unusual stuff at the back of her eyes so he wanted me to come back for some retinal photos. Fast forward to Wed., 10/28 --- she had her eyes dialated and the retinal shots taken. The doc. saw what looks like swelling at the back of her eyes (more so on the left side). He gave me an emergency referral letter that I'm taking with me to the ER tomorrow. He doesn't want to me to have to jump from one specialist to another (like insurance likes you to do); that could takes weeks and he doesn't want me to wait on this.

She does complain of headaches which is a symptom that has been on and off for a while and her vision tested out fine overall. Right now she is her normal silly self -- eating well, sleeping well, auditioning for A Christmas with Scrooge -- she is a little confused as to why we have to go to the hospital for more testing, but I'm telling her that it is so we can be in one place without having to drive all over for any tests she may need.

We would appreciate any prayers and kind thoughts you have. More prayers for strength for me too --------- I HAVEN'T GOOGLED ONE MEDICAL TERM (yet)!!!!!!!

Just grand...........Maggie's swab results came back positive for H1N1. Her fever has been gone since Friday night; she has a lingering cough.

.....fingers crossed, spraying more Lysol.......

This is TRULY amazing! So cool. My kids are inspired for our school talent show, lol. Me, I'm inspired to jump for 30 seconds without wetting my pants.

So Monday night we got BOO'ed. Someone was kind enough to spread some Halloween spirit. Well, lucky for my kids to get some yummy marshmallow ghosts and some goodies to make cupcakes. Unlucky for me because it means a commitment to participate.........because my kids won't let me ignore it. I grabbed a few assorted items from the store; stuffed the buckets; and we decided which neighbors we should try to BOO!

You would have thought they were Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible.
They turned into stealth little troopers negotiating who gets to bring the bucket/ who gets to ring the bell/ should you ring before or after you put the bucket down. It was hilarious. Sean even changed into black clothing so he couldn't be detected running from the drop-off point. The 10 minutes it took to drive around and situate the car (three houses down from each drop) was absolutely hilarious. The anxious questions 'do you think they saw us? do you think they'll figure it out? do you think they'll like the stuff?' were just so funny. I'm so glad they didn't let me just bail out on participating. That's good stuff!

Oh the THINKS you can THINK......lately the kids have been venturing through Who-ville, the Jungle of Nool, and Solla Sollew in the musical Seussical. What a fun show with outrageous costumes and a fantastic set. Maggie is on junior dance team and one of the 'Middle' Sour Kangaroos (thus, the attitude in the photo); Amanda is one of the Mindy Lu's and other assorted characters; and Ian is one of the 'Max the dog's & a jungle creature. Everyone in the cast is super and has made this wild ride a ton of fun.

It seems that we have all survived this first week of school. My children were ON TIME everyday and had a nice homemade lunch everyday. (you are kidding me if I'm paying $3.75 for lunch or .75/milk daily!)

I am learning to appreciate the little things when it comes to picking them up though: a new school means very little shade and lots of fresh black asphalt- oh, how I miss our cozy shade trees at our old school; a new school means new traffic patterns that no one seems to understand; a new school means a time of adjustment for everyone. So from here on out I will appreciate the fact that although our facility has little shade it does have A/C (and I bring ice water at pick-up); I will deal with the traffic b/c at least we don't share parking with the middle school anymore; and I will be grateful that we have a principal who is open to listening to the parents and taking our suggestions into action.

And speaking of adjustments......this week I have started exercising. And I didn't die. I started a 2.5mile loop on Monday, done in 36 minutes. After my third day, I was down to 32 minutes. Add a few sit-ups and stretches and I'm hoping that my body will adjust and be less sore. Pass the Advil........

For our family, September has brought the start of school, football and Seussical (theatre). So that means pictures in front of the doorknob to show how tall they are.

The little dudes -- well, I guess they aren't so little anymore. Sean started 4th grade and Ian started kindergarten. It boggles my mind that I was pregnant with him when Maggie was in kindergarten. It also boggles my mind that THEY chose matching outfits for the first day.

And the girls -- Maggie started 6th grade and Amanda started 2nd grade.


It's my only year with them ALL IN ONE PLACE! Even though I have three pick-up times I am grateful.