15 Weeks

A Dear Friend

...of mine passed away yesterday morning.

I met Linda when I did my internship at Yellowstone National Park. We worked together that awesome summer of 1996. We have all kept in contact and we met up for a 10 year reunion in 2006. In 2007 she went for a physical and was diagnosed with cancer. Unfortunately they were unable to perform surgery and she was given months to live. We were all in shock. Linda was an avid hiker. She was probably healthier than I am. After her chemo treatments she would even go on hikes. I honestly don't know anyone like her. She is a remarkable woman and she amazed me time and time again. She had asked me at one point when I was pregnant if I knew what we were having and I told her yes. I also told her that we weren't telling people but I didn't hesitate to tell her. She said she would keep my secret. And...she did. Not too long ago she started to really feel everything that was going on with her cancer. She started really feeling tired. But through it all...she continued to amaze us all. She was so strong. Right around the time Ethan was born she sent me a beautiful blanket for him that she made. How incredibly special is that? To know how tired she had become and everything else.......she made him a blanket. I/we will cherish it always. On August 24th I received word that they didn't know if she would make it through the night. She wasn't eating and she was sleeping so much. It was so hard to hear......even knowing that her months turned out to be months past a year. She was on morphine for the pain and I knew it wouldn't be long. I mailed her a card and she did receive it. A good friend (one of our Yellowstone gang) went to visit Linda and hugged her for every one of us and said each of our names as she did. She read emails to her that we all sent and she was able to visit her for 2 hours. I wish I could have. She seemed to have gotten better and I know many people get better before the end. Her son's birthday was over the weekend and she only woke up to mouth the words to happy birthday. It seemed she must have been holding on just for that. I was notified yesterday morning that her journey had ended and she was finally at peace. I just can't stop crying... What a remarkable woman! I will miss you Linda....... tremendously.

Busy Weekend

We had a very busy weekend.

Friday my friend (neighbor too) Lisa watched Madison and Ethan because my sitter had to move her daughter to college. Lisa called me around 1:30 because Madison was screaming and screaming and complaining about her tummy hurting. Madison is rarely sick so this was weird. She gave her some pepto and we hung up. An hour later she called me back. No change. So I told her I was on my way. When I got to her house, Maddie was asleep on the couch. She didn't sleep long and woke up not long after I got there. I got her home and took her temp...over 102. I called nurse direct and was told to give her Tylenol ever 4 hours, have her take a bath or put a warm wash cloth on her belly, liquids...ya know all that fun stuff. She was talking all crazy and they say that children do that when their temp is over 102. Hmmm Her temp would go up and down up and down. We could tell every time it was over 102. Saturday morning she was or seemed fine. She had dance - Fall classes started. After we got home it didn't take long and she was talking weird and sure enough she had a fever again. She took a long 4 hour nap and was fine afterwards. We finally went to our neighbors 3rd annual party around 7 something pm..it started at 5pm. She was fine the entire time. I can't remember when I brought her and Ethan home. He had been sleeping in our neighbor's spare room. All day Sunday...she was fine...nothing. Than yesterday we got our boat ready to go to the lake. We had plans to meet some of our neighbors at Jefferson Park so they could go boating with us and the kids could tube. We were waiting for everyone to get there and Madison started acting weird AGAIN. Ugh! She wouldn't take anything and was walking around and yelling at me to not talk to her...even when I hadn't said a word in a while. Well everyone showed up and we had 11 people on our boat (5 adults, 4 kids ages 3-5, a 1 year old, and sweet Ethan) Madison and Kenzie went out on the tubes and had a blast...even though Maddie felt bad. That was the only time she went all day. She didn't complain at all just sat on the boat. Kenzie than went with her sister Lorna. Than Kenzie went with Archer...than Kenzie went with Me. I don't even know if Kenzie stopped much. She must have but she reminded me of Maddie. Well on a normal day when Maddie feels good. My friends that had their camera should be sending me pictures soon..I will have to share. Ethan slept most of the time but poor Holland wanted to be all over the boat and of course she wasn't able to be. She is only 1 so it is hard to not be moving when she wants. After we got home..yes Maddie had a fever. Are we terrible parents or what? She wanted to stay on the boat when we asked her or I would have taken her home. When we got home we gave her Motrin instead of Tylenol. That stuff is amazing. Her fever was gone right away and so far...it hasn't come back. She went to daycare today and was fine all day. I am not sure but I guess something must have been going around.

14 Weeks

These are from last Wednesday-14 Weeks

The outfit Ethan is wearing was a gift I received at my shower. My friend, Jenn, said I was having a boy even though no one knew. She guessed right. I love this outfit that she gave me. It says "Big Man On Campus."