Slug

This should probably be my new nickname after this weekend. I made it from the bed to the couch, from the couch to the chair, the chair to the bathroom and then back to the couch. The only thing of substance I did this weekend was go to the grocery store on Saturday AM ( and bake blueberry muffins. (Side note: I think I will start going to the store @ 7:30 a -- you can see EVERYTHING on the aisle since it's a ghost town.) I didn't take a picture at all, spent some time talking on the phone, and hugged and kissed on the kids a lot. Oh, and did a lot of mindless TV watching. Cause you know, I needed to catch up on my Lifetime movies. It was great. All in all a good weekend.

On the mom news front, she was released from the hospital on Friday. I've just received a text from my sister that they are pulling out of Florida and are on their way back home to Texas. Finally ... I'm hoping we can start closing out this chapter and start a new one soon. Of course, there are still many hurdles to jump. Mom is so weak she can't hardly do anything by herself. But that should rectify itself in time. Let's hope so anyway.

My hearts

The kid's school celebrated Valentine's Day on Friday. I dressed them up in their finery (well, Mallory anyway ... I didn't find any cute little boy v-day stuff) and was going to send them off to par-tay all day long. Had to get some pics before we left though. What kind of mommy would I be to not document the momentous occasion that is Valentine's Day?! (I'm really joking here, just in case you didn't read between the lines.)

So, I thought I'd start off by putting them on the couch to take a pic. You can really see the love they were exuding on this day of hearts. I think True thought Mallory had cooties or something because he didn't want to get within 10 feet of her. But when she pulled him to her, he resisted then she pushed him down. Way to say "I love you."

Then I tried to get them to stand next to each other and hug. Not much success there either.

So finally I just resorted to an individual shot. True was in rockstar mode and requested no more pictures (or maybe he's just trying to push Mallory out of the way in this pic; we'll never know).

Hope you all had as good of a Valentine's Day as these two did!

Overheard (in the car)

A snippet of a conversation Mallory and I were having in the car on the way to school this morning:

Mallory: (hiccup) Mommy, I have the hiccups.
Mommy: That means you are growing!
Mallory: Does it also mean I have a scratchy bottom?
Mommy: I don't know. Do you have a scratchy bottom?
Mallory: No.
Mommy: Then I guess hiccups don't mean a scratchy bottom.

The world is right once again

It's been a week since I posted about my mom. The lack of info on here is due mainly to the fact that I spend the majority of my extra time on the phone with people giving updates. By the end of the day I am just kind of done talking about it to be honest. But, the good news is that last week they took her off the vent. Over the last few days she's been eating, sitting up and talking. Yes, the world is right once again.

She is still very, very weak. So weak that she has to have someone feed her. But I am not complaining. She's also still on a BiPAP machine (similar to the CPAP they use for people with sleep apnea). It doesn't breath for her but helps to eliminates some of the work. Once she is off of that she can move from ICU to a regular room. I'm hoping that comes sooner than later, but I guess it will happen in its own time.

I can't wait for her to come home.

Greatness

I'm a great aunt ya'll! Lauren Michele made her way into the world on February 10, 2009. Isn't she cute? Mallory and I went to meet her this weekend. Surprisingly I did not get baby fever.

Just when you think it's going well ...

I'm emotionally exhausted. Last Monday (2/2) my mom was admitted to the ICU at Lake Wales (FL) Medical Center and put on a ventilator. She had been sick and not sleeping a few days before, but dad finally got her to lay down and rest that Sunday night. But when he tried to wake her up the next day she was unconscious. They called the ambulance and off to the ER they went. Of course, she was admitted. Her blood pressure was 41/25. Yes, you read that right.

Anyway, my brother and I flew down to Orlando that night to be with Dad. Thank you so much, Cheryl for being my own personal travel agent. It is a joy to have friends like you who I can call in any circumstance and know that you will do everything in your power to help. I was also thankful to Lynn for taking over all of my work commitments. It was nice to be able to concentrate on mom and not worry too much about work (you know I will always worry a little!).

We arrived at the bus (aka, motor home) about 2:15a Tuesday morning. Later that day we got up to go see mom in the hospital. Seeing your parent(s) in that condition is just cruel. Well, seeing anyone in that condition is cruel, but especially those you love. The doctors originally diagnosed her with congestive heart failure, pneumonia, UTI and a "blood" infection. After about 48 hours in the hospital they finally said it was double pneumonia complicated by her COPD/emphaseyma and that she was septic from the infection.

It's been a week and she's still on the ventilator. She's holding her own though and I fully believe she will come out of this. It's just a matter of how long it will take. And of course, all of us keeping our patience in check. It's hard to only see the small steps forward. Each and every day I was there I wanted to walk into the ICU and see that they had taken her off the vent. In my mind I knew this wasn't possible, but in my heart I know ANYTHING is possible. They've lowered her breaths per minute and even lowered her oxygen to 50%, but she had a minor setback yesterday (vtach) and her oxygen had to be increased to 60%. They did move her over to SIM-V on the vent which means the machine will breathe for her but if she requests a breath it will give it to her. I spoke with her nurse this evening and she is definitely overbreathing the machine (machine is set at 10 breaths, she is taking 15 - 20).

I left to come home on Friday morning. I did very well holding emotions in check all week, until Thursday night. I didn't want to come home and cried on Dad's shoulder for a little while. Then I switched to my brother Rusty's shoulder. It was good to see my kidlets when I got home though. Mallory has been very concerned about how sick Mimi is and it's hard not to cry when I'm talking to her. To be honest, the longer I am home the harder it is to be here. But I know that I need to help Shawn take care of the kidlets. We'll just take the progress and setbacks day by day, knowing that all of our friends and family are praying for her. That's all we can do.

Radio silent

Originally written: 2/2/09. I found at at 2p CT that day that my mom was rushed to the hospital. I never even had time to hit the publish button.

Mello told me that I needed to update my blog. I know I've been radio silent for the past week. I just haven't had much to say ... or felt like "talking" very much. However, I have been planning on doing a silly post about my iPhone pictures so I figure I will take the opportunity while I have nothing better to talk about.

The iPhone has a camera on it. Not a great one but it works in a pinch. However, after the 1,000th time that Mallory dropped my phone the camera starting giving me some startling photo results.

Yeah, so there you go. Interesting pics you think?