Easter & Birthday Party

 

Here's a picture of the girls before church on Easter Sunday. Alayna is very attached to those two fingers in her mouth.

 

Julie loved her new polka-dot dress & she informed me that she was anxious to get to church to show Aaron how beautiful she looked. Such a humble child!

 

Sunday afternoon we also celebrated Julie's 5th Birthday (her birthday is today, the 25th), with Dave's mom, grandma, brother Nathan, wife Kristy & daughter Lily. Dave's grandma is famous for her cakes, so Julie was sure to put in her request a couple weeks ago for a pink bunny cake. As you can see, that is what Julie got. Thank you Grandma Legg! I never could have made a pink bunny cake that turned out this cute. Julie was thrilled, and knew immediately that she wanted to eat the ears.

Heavy Heart

I am sitting here trying to figure out exactly what I want to say, and in a way the words just aren't coming...and in another way, the words are rushing around in my head, but I can't seem to organize my thoughts. Now I'm just speaking random, and you're thinking "get to the point."
All I can ask is that you please pray for my mom. As many of you know she has been battling Stage 3C Ovarian cancer for 4 years now. She recently had surgery to remove a tumor, and the surgery was successful. However, Thursday we received the news that her CA125 (cancer levels) have elevated again. The count is almost double what it was 4 weeks ago, so we know the cancer is growing somewhere, we just don't know where. She has been taken off the chemo she's currently been on, and the doctor is trying to come up with a new treatment plan for her...possibly a clinical trial drug.
There is more on my mind regarding this, but I will just end by asking for prayer for her, and wisdom for her doctor. We know the Lord has a plan, and we trust Him! We continue to plead before the Lord for her healing. I am so thankful I have a Heavenly Father to turn to!

Trying to Get Fresh Air

Are you tired of all the illness that is going through my family right now? Or, at least tired of reading about it on my blog??? Well, guess what? We're still sick, and it's still about the only thing I have to type about these days. So, bear with me a while longer. :)
Yesterday our outside temperature reached 50 degrees. Since we've been cooped up in the house since 2007 I thought maybe it was time we try and get some fresh air. (okay, 2007 was a bit of an exageration...but it feels true anyways) I bundled up Julie & Alayna and thought we could go for a short walk. We made it to the end of the driveway, picked up our mail, and Julie realized she wanted to wear her gloves. We headed back to the house, at which time I began coughing, choking and gagging. Julie got her gloves and we started back down the driveway (our driveway is a little long). We got to the road and poor Julie joined me in the coughing, hacking and gagging show. We decided we just couldn't go for our walk, we desperately needed drinks of water (which I forgot to bring with us), and we both could barely breath. I was still determined to stay outside and get some more fresh air. I took Alayna from her stroller and the three of us attempted to play ball in the driveway. After 10 minutes, and Julie going in to another round of coughing fits, she looked at me and asked, "can we please go back inside?" Yes, I suppose that would be the best thing. Apparently our lungs are more interested in breathing in all the germs, than breathing in the fresh air right now. But, hey, at least we tried. I figure there had to be some benefit to our outing.
I have had a couple people, in the past week, mention to me how great the product "Airborne" is, and that they swear it really helps when you're sick. So, today I picked some up for Julie & Dave. Kids, ages 4-12, can be given half a tablet. I can't give it to Alayna, but I figured the other two could try it. Dave is not home at the moment to try his first round, but I dissolved half a tablet into some orange juice for Julie when we got home. Guess what....she refuses to drink it!!!! Not because it tastes bad, but because I want her to, so she's protesting. Oh, for cryin' out loud!!! So, if I can get her to drink it, and after Dave tries it I'll have to report back on whether I think this is helping, or not. If you've tried Airborne and have an opinion on it, I'd love to hear your comments about it.

Notice, I've posted a new recipe to the right. It's the recipe for the delicious Napoleon that I posted a picture of recently. Enjoy!

Oh Spring, Where Art Thou???

The illness saga continues! Just as I thought we were on the mend Julie started running a fever all over again. I wonder since Dave got sick after us if that started the whole cycle over again??? I guess it's hard to know, but I'll try not to place all the blame on him. I'm sure he'd appreciate that. :) Friday night Julie's cough came back and by Saturday she was running a fever of 102. Even with tylenol I could not get her fever below 100 all weekend. Monday we made another trek to the doctor to find out that she has yet another ear infection (a week ago we got the "all clear" signal from the doctor that her ears were better). While at the doctor I had him check Alayna just to make sure. She was fine and just had a lingering cough. This all took place yesterday. Well wouldn't you know that last night Alayna was up more frequently, coughing, and today she is running a fever of 101.7, and her nose is running again!!! Why couldn't this have happened yesterday when I was already at the doctor??? On top of all this illness the girls and I had planned a trip to see my parents for 10 days. We were scheduled to leave this past Sunday, after church. I have not seen my family since Christmas and we were really looking forward to this time. Needless to say, we are still home. My mom has been sick with the flu, and she is just now starting to get better. She certainly doesn't need to be re-exposed to any more germs. We are hoping and praying to re-schedule our trip for the first week in April. I'm praying that a few more weeks will have us on the mend and able to enjoy our time with family more.

This morning I was having a hard time pulling myself together and the tears just seemed to want to flow. My precious husband stayed with the girls for a few hours so I could get some much needed grocery shopping done, and have some time out of the house. I made a special trip in to the beloved Dollar Tree and picked up Easter basket items. It was nice to pick out fun things for the girls. When I returned home Dave said that a friend from church called and was bringing supper to us tonight. I just have to tell you how much this meant to me. The Lord's timing is always perfect, and He cares for all the details of our lives. While I was grocery shopping I kept thinking of what I'd fix for dinner tonight. I couldn't come up with any ideas, nor did I have the desire to make supper. When Diana & her daughter, Danielle, delivered dinner to our door at 5:00 I could have cried (you'd think I'd be out of tears by now). A delicious meal of swedish meatballs over rice, broccoli, chocolate cake, and her famous homemade cinnamon rolls! I have to admit that I couldn't wait until breakfast to have a cinnamon roll. Everything was so tasty, and it put a bright spot in to my gloomy day. Thank you Diana & family!!!

In the middle of all this germ-infested mess I will be turning 30 on Sunday. Maybe the Lord has given us all this illness right now to pre-occupy my mind from thinking about this "milestone." I guess I'm not overly bothered by the number, but there is something surreal about finally leaving your 20's. Not to mention the fact that I got my hair cut short and I am really noticing some of the grey hairs. UGH!

Doctor's Office Frustration!

Okay, I don't normally post twice in one day, but I had more to talk about. As you know I'm around 7 months pregnant now, and today I had a pre-natal doctor's visit. I have one more visit in four weeks, then I go to two week appointnemtns. When I found out I was pregnant I decided to go with a different ob/gyn practice than I had with Alayna. Today I was set to see a doctor that I had not seen as of yet. It's been difficult to get an appointment with him, but the office policy is for you to see each of the doctors and midwives in the office at least once so you're familiar with them. My appointment was set for 1:45 this afternoon. I was told after arriving that he was 45 minutes behind schedule today, but hopefully he'd get caught up and I'd be seen sooner than that. Okay, now I'm irritated and I just arrived. But, I found a TIME magazine and decided to flip through it while I waited. At 2:20 the nurse calls me back, takes my vitals and has me wait in the room. Much to my pitiful delight there was a People Magazine in the room, so I decided to make that my new reading material. Well, 3:00 rolled around and I was now caught up on what exactly happened to Heath Ledger, why Eddie Murphy's recent marriage failed, and the details of Jennifer Lopez's baby shower, but I STILL have not seen the doctor. At 3:05 I decided that I needed to look for him since maybe he didn't know I was there. I was able to speak to a nurse and I voiced my disgust over the length of time I was waiting. I told her that I had a sick husband at home who was caring for our other 2 children, and I was anxious to go. I told her I normally was not impatient (I guess that's not exactly true), but I had just waited too long. I was nice to her, it is not her fault, but I felt someone needed to make the doctor aware. Wouldn't you know that two minutes after that he came to my room all apologies, saying something about having missed my room and going in to the wrong room, blah, blah, blah... The important thing is that everything is healthy and as it should be with the baby. But, I have to tell you that if he is on call when I deliver this baby and he is late, or misses my room, he better hope that there's a new issue of People Magazine in the room waiting for me. :)
I just feel better having shared all this with you. You might be thinking that we have all had to wait "forever" at a doctors appointment at one time or another, but I'm hormonal, emotionally unstable and slightly irrational, so don't be late!

Alayna

This past Sunday Alayna wore a new outfit she got for Christmas from Mimi & Papa (my parents). I just thought she looked so adorable and had to share these pictures with you. Now that she's over her ear infections and cold she's back to her more "normal" bubbly self. Dave is sick now, but the girls and I are doing much better. He's spending today in bed with a fever and lots of congestion. It's amazing he avoided getting sick this long. I just wish he'd stop coughing it's disturbing my sleep at night! JUST KIDDING! The poor guy has been listening to my "bark" for weeks now, the least I can do is cover my head with a pillow and try to ignore his coughing. Or should I be covering "his" head with a pillow....hmmmm :)

 

 

 

Okay, I just had to include this picture of a dessert I recently made for us. I had intended to make it for Dave for Valentine's Day, but since the girls and I were all sick at that time it just didn't happen. I finally got around to making it the other day, and can I just say it's SOOO yummy! I got this recipe from a friend of mine at church (thanks Diana!), and it's become a favorite of our families. I'll have to post the recipe some time. It's called a napoleon, and it's easier to make than it looks. When I made it for my mom and grandma one time they thought it looked a little too fussy to make, but it's really not.