The Holidays are already here?

Where on earth has time gone. I remember growing up wishing time would pass quicker and the school year would be over. Now I can only wish the days would slow down. I honestly have no idea where the past week and a half went.

Two Sundays ago my church Saint Andrew Lutheran did a soup dinner fundraiser for the 'Build from the Heart' Project. We are so grateful to belong to such an amazing congregation. We anticipated raising around $3,000. I recall looking around the room one hour into the event and it seemed like life was going in slow motion and I could not hear a thing. The room was packed, not an empty seat to be seen. This is for our family and the community room that will be added onto the house. All of these people are here to support us. We are so thankful for such a wonderful community. Once I got home I received a phone call from Church telling me they raised over $6,500. I was so excited I don't think I slept much that night.

Tuesday night we met with the Cabinet designer and picked out the wood and color for the kitchen cabinets. Definitely an exciting point in building. The floors are almost all picked out and then onto paint colors. Plumbing fixtures have been arriving and we just got the call appliances are in. So exciting.

Chris left for hunting last Thursday with his father and uncle. Although they had a good time - they did not come home with any deer. They got home late Monday night and will continue to hunt around here. The kids and I just hung out all weekend. It was so nice just to be with them and not worry about anything else. It is the first time in a long time I have actually been able to do that. Zak helped me set up the tree.. and by help I mean pulling on it . It was very cute as he would crawl under the tree and pull. Callie was sleeping while I set it up. When she woke up and the lights were in I don't think she knew what to think. She just stared at it for a few minutes. Now I just need to decorate it.

Unfortunately once again Callie is sick. Another cold and she has shared with Chris and I this time. The doctor put her on oral steroids even earlier this time to see if it would help avoid the near line hospital visit again. It has already been a long winter for her and it really has not even started. We go to the clinic on Friday so I am  hoping for a good report on weight gain.

Front Page

Our family was on the front page of our local news paper today!!!

http://www.wausaudailyherald.com/article/20101113/WDH0101/11130500/Community-rallies-for-family

PALs

I went to a conference this weekend for Parents as Leaders (PALs) with children that have special needs. What an amazing group of people I was able to meet. All of the families have such touching stories and are all so compassionate.  Jenn, one of my close friends was able to come with as well so it was nice just to catch up on our lives. One thing we learned.. don't talk too much in the car when you have no idea where you are going, you forget to look at directions. Needless to say we were still on time. Chris stayed home with the kids and had some Daddy bonding time.

The purpose of PALs is to create a community project and be a leader. The project is your choice. I have been thinking of going to PALs for a few years now. The timing just never seemed to work with the kids and I could not make the commitment. This was the year I finally decided it was time. What a perfect fit too as we will be starting up the community room. We will meet 4 weekends over the course of 9 months. While we are at the meetings we lean different skills to help up with our projects. I can not wait to see what the next weekend together will bring.

Breathe

One of my friends always reminds me to Breathe.. this past week was a week I needed to be reminded several times. People often ask how we do it and the answer is simple.. we do it because of those around us. The kids went Trick-or-Treating last Sunday. Callie was a caterpillar and Zak was a bug catcher.

Right after trick-or-treating Chris had to head out of town for work and did not come back home until Thursday. 
Monday I met with the interior Design team and we were able to see the cabinet design. We also saw the floor sample for the Community Room! That was exciting to see our first piece of flooring. 

Monday evening Callie spiked a fever of 102 degrees, but the nurse was able to get her fever down by morning. Tuesday she seemed a little better, but we could tell a cold was on the way, By Wednesday it was time to take her in as her breathing was betting worse. The doctor gave her meds, but did not do an x-ray as she has c-diff and antibiotics only will make it worse. We had to up her oxygen slightly, but by Thursday she was better again. Thursday night she took a turn again and Friday was back to the clinic. She was on a significant amount of oxygen. They did an x-ray and treated her for pneumonia. They gave her an injection at the clinic and another nebulizer treatments. They did let us go home with strict orders on when to admit her to the hospital. Thankfully God was watching over her and by 6pm she was starting to do a little better.  Today Callie is doing much better, she is no longer on oxygen when she is awake. Hopefully this week she will get back to "normal". Needless to say the whole week was a roller coaster ride, not knowing what she would do.

Thursday I went to Marshfield with one of the kids Nurse. We went to a meeting about special needs and the medical world. We talked about insurance and things too look for. Different benefit and being an advocate. It was a very informative session.

So after a week of craziness I am ready to move onto next week and hope for a healthy week.