The last photos of 2009

Bring it on!

I've been trying to think of what to write on my blog during these last minutes of 2009. Much has happened this year, so there is much to write about. However, I think I'm going to sum it all up in this way: 2009 began with vomit (not mine) on my bare legs, while still in bed. 2009 is ending with a long, hot, relaxing shower (and this blog post). This past year has been full of some great times and some tough tough times for me personally. I have to say that this has been the toughest and most taxing year of my life. I am blessed and grateful for my family, whom I love more deeply than I think I can even understand. And I am ready to move forward with my family in this new year, which is only one hour away.

So here's to a clean fresh start for 2010! May it bring peace, joy, blessings, love, health and happiness to all!

God Bless ~ Colleen

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas! We are trying to have the best Christmas possible, despite being a little "under-the-weather." Happy Birthday to Jesus, and God Bless us everyone!

Beautiful Kelly turned ONE today!

Pizza and cupcakes!



Kelly's totally awesome cupcake poster!



Kelly the day before her big day.


Kelly braving the elements!

Amazing sunset after the storm passed!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

The Ladinos were out in full force for the first big snowfall!

One Solitary Life

He was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman.

He grew up in still another village, where he worked in a carpenter shop until he was 30.

Then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.

He never wrote a book.

He never held an office.

He never married or owned a home.

He didn’t go to college.

He never put his foot inside a big city.

He never traveled 200 miles from the place where he was born.

He did none of the things one usually associates with greatness.

He had no credentials by today’s standards.

He was only 33 when public opinion turned against him.

His friends ran away.

He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.

He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.

While he was dying, his executioners gambled for his clothing, the only property he had on earth.

When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend.

Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, the leader of mankind’s progress.

All the armies that ever marched,

All the navies that ever sailed,

All the parliaments that ever sat,

All the kings that ever reigned,

put together,

Have not affected the life of man upon earth as much as that…One Solitary Life

James Allen Francis

The Mind of a Child

Today Brian was "aggressively" rocking Kate in our glider rocker. I came into the living room and said, "Brian not so hard, the chair could tip forward on Kate." To which Brian replied, "and she will die." I said, "no she won't die." Brian then said, "she'll just get really thin?" Then I said, "Yes Brian, I guess she'll just get thin."

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

I packed up the kids and headed to Jordan's Furniture in Avon, MA, to see "The Enchanted Village." The village used to be at Jordan Marsh in Downtown Crossing in Boston, but Jordan's closed a few years back. The village was shown at Government Center in Boston for a few years, and now the antique Christmas village finds it's home at this massive furniture store. I met my sister-in-law Julie there with her 4 children.

To make a long story short, the village is beautiful and it was great to see Julie and the kids, but it wasn't the best place for a "challenging" baby, a weepy and clingy 2 year old girl, and an initially hesitant 4 year old boy, who didn't want to see the village but rather, wanted to walk down a dark and empty hallway...ok??. However, once we got into the exhibit Brian was happy. Kate and Kelly were not and by the time I left I was looking for something along the lines of seriously spiked eggnog. When you leave the exhibit, those crafty and super smart owners of Jordan's, make you walk all the way through their ginormous store in the hopes that you might purchase some large piece of furniture you weren't planning on buying. However, the trip through the couch section proved to be the most fun and exciting part of the trip for all three of my kids. All three of them love rolling around on couches (they like to jump too but I wouldn't let them), and so I took of their shoes and let them "go wild" for about 10 minutes.

I could have stayed home, been WAAAAY less stressed out, and my kids would have had just as much fun on our couch! Buuut, I would have missed out on a most impressive (FREE) display and I would have also missed out on the pleasure of seeing some family. Oh heck, the couches at Jordan's are bigger and more fun than ours! I guess when you weigh out the positives and negatives the positives win!

Enjoy the pictures and Merry Christmas to all!

It Just Doesn't Get Much Funnier than Snoopy!

That Silly Girl!

The littlest Piggy
"Sam I Am" from "Green Eggs and Ham"

I'm a nice mom (I guess)

Today Jeff and I were watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with the kids. Right after the Evil Queen commands the head henchman to take Snow White into the woods, kill her, and bring back her heart in a box, Brian says to me, "Mom YOU'RE not THAT mean, even when you yell and get really mad." Well, thanks I guess. I'm a little afraid to watch more Disney movies with him for fear one of these days he's going to say something like, "Oh, YOU'RE mean like THAT mom (or witch, or wicked stepmother)."

I'm off to cuddle with the little guy. Maybe I'll score some "nice mom" points. :-)

Noteworthy

Did I ever mention that 2009 started with my son vomiting on my bare legs, before I even got out of bed on New Years day? It's been "that kind of year"...here's to a less stressful 2010!

You just can't make this stuff up!

Things happen in my life that could honestly be in a sitcom. What happened last week has nothing to do with funny at all, but when things just keep. on. happening. you've GOTTA laugh (or cry, or fall apart)! I have to go back to Thanksgiving in order for you to fully appreciate the circus, which is in fact, my life.

Thanksgiving: Kelly was sick and needed to sleep, so Jeff offered to stay home with her so that I could take the "older" two to my parent's for dinner. Thankfully (pun intended), our neighbors were home with their 22 pound turkey and only 3 adults and two young girls to eat it, so Jeff had a very nice (and quiet) dinner over there. He actually ended up having the "less stressful" day because Kelly slept for most of it, while I had two very active children to take care of. All in all it was a wonderful Thanksgiving had by all, thanks to my parents and our great neighbors. Oh but wait, I almost forgot to mention that while I was at my parent's house I noticed my lymph nodes were beginning to swell behind my right ear. By nighttime not only was it all swollen behind my right ear, but the side of my face was swollen and I had some pain going up the right side of my head.

Friday: Took Kelly to the doctor to find she had an ear infection. Off to get antibiotics. I also asked her pediatrician if there are lymph nodes on the face. He gave me a funny look and said no. I said I would get my swollen cheek looked at by my own doctor. I think he thought that was a great idea. On Friday night I noticed that my scalp was hurting, but I just thought I had a zit or something.

Saturday: I was in quite a bit of pain Saturday night and so Jeff and I were looking up a 24 hour nurse that I could call to ask about my pain and swelling problems. While we were waiting to talk to the nurse Jeff asked (this is NOT a joke), "if one of the kids were to get seriously hurt what ER would we take them to?"

Sunday: We take my little munchkin to the ER and I'm feeling horrible because while all this is going on with her, the pain on my scalp is getting worse.

Tuesday: Off to my own doctor and find out I have SHINGLES! But wait, there's more! The doctor notices that my right eye is red and wants me to see the eye doctor that day. I go see the eye doctor. Thankfully the shingles are not in my eye, but I have some form of conjunctivitis! About $130 later in co-pays and prescriptions for ME, I'm off to Mass General to be with my little Kate Kate again.

Wednesday: Kate comes home...YIPEE!

Saturday: Kelly wakes up with red bumps all over her body. When I call the pediatrician and tell them, they're not sure if it's anything serious, but then I tell them I have shingles, and they tell me they want to see her because they're afraid she might have......CHICKEN POX!!! To make me feel more like a leper, they want me to go in the side door - the Quasimodo door - so that nobody else gets contaminated by us. Fear relieved when the doctor tells me it's just a heat rash. However, at this point I don't know if my nerves can take anymore.

Sunday (today): Out for a walk with Kelly, who FALLS ON HER FACE! I pick her up and there is so much blood pooling in her mouth she's gurgling it! Then it gets to the front of her mouth and while she's crying she's blowing raspberries with it! Don't worry...there's more! I get in the house with her to try and see where the blood is coming from but I can't see because my glasses keep fogging up. I take my glasses off so I can "see" (funny). However, a few minutes later I move Kelly to her high chair to eat frozen blueberries (she's fine at this point), and go looking for my glasses, and I STEP ON THEM! I hear a crunch and pop out a lense but Jeff is able to get in back in. Thank the LORD! About an hour later I'm doing dishes and I pull out the faucet nozzle to spray some spinach and the entire nozzle comes off and water starts spraying me right in the eyes.

That's it. That's the end. You better not be sad because you wanted to read more. This is my life we're talking about! I'm off to bed. Tomorrow is a new day. :-)

A Great Christmas Song

I love this version of "What child is this?" by Mercy Me.

Blessings, Gifts, Prayers, Friends and Family

I thought that writing down the events of the past several days would be a good way for me to put everything that has just happened to Kate and our family into perspective. I also wanted to share our story with everyone who has been praying so hard for us. Here it goes:

Sunday morning started out very normal for Kate. She was happy, was jumping around in her crib, and she told me she wanted to give me a hug and a kiss. We all got up around 6 (NOT by my choosing) and so I decided to go to the 7 am mass. (Jeff and I have been splitting up masses and not taking the kids, until Kelly gets older). After mass I went to a few stores and headed home. Jeff and the kids were watching cartoons and Jeff went into the kitchen to heat up some breakfast. When he came back into the room, after being out for no more than 5 minutes, he found Kate face down on the xylophone toy she had been playing with. Within the next half hour poor Jeff went from thinking Kate was playing a game or being stubborn, to realizing something was really wrong (during the entire time he was trying to help Kate, Kelly was hanging on his leg screaming and Brian was complaining that Curious George wasn't on because of some telethon). Jeff shined a flashlight in Kate's eyes to see if her pupils would dilate (they did but only slightly), and he put ice on her, at which time she opened her eyes and made a very uncoordinated attempt to get it off. When I got home at 8:25 Jeff hollered for me to come in the room. Upon entering I saw that Kate was lying on the floor on her side with her eyes open. When I said her name she looked at me briefly but didn't speak and didn't move. I picked her up and sat her on my lap, at which time she began swallowing repeatedly , her hands started shaking and she began grabbing/clawing at my shirt. It was at this time that we had our neighbor come over to watch Brian and Kelly and we headed off the the ER at Newton Wellesley Hospital.

On the ride to the hospital Kate looked to the left only, and seemed to be fighting to stay awake/conscious. She didn't respond to her name and didn't respond to my pinching her leg. Kate was taken in right away at the ER, and the nurses and doctors began working on her. Kate never spoke, and never cried when the IV was put into her arm (that was tough to watch), but rather moved around a little and appeared quite agitated. For about an hour and 15 minutes Kate just lay there moving her tongue around or swallowing, while blankly looking around. There were a few times she said something completely appropriate i.e., "That's MY bear!" when the nurse took her bear away, and she made some purposeful movements i.e., wiping her nose with her hand, and smiling at the nurse. However, at around 10:30 or so something began to change and for the next 15 minutes Jeff and I witnessed Kate have a grand mal seizure. It was horrible. She was chewing on her mouth (the doctor wiped some pink saliva from her), her eyebrows were going up and down, her body was shaking, and she was making this very "guttural" type noise. After 5 doses of various seizure medications, the seizures stopped and we were told Kate would be transferred to the pediatric ICU at Mass General in Boston. In all, Kate had been seizing for approximately 3 hours. During our time at the ER all blood work, toxin reports and the CT Scan all came back normal.

I went with Kate by ambulance to Mass General and Jeff followed. While in the ICU and during our entire time at Mass General all tests came back negative with the exception of the EEG, which showed abnormal brain activity in the left temporal lobe. This lobe was most likely the focal point of the seizure and was working at a slower rate than the rest of the brain, as it was trying to recover from the seizure, per neurology report. At one point there was a question that there was a viral infection in the spinal fluid, but that turned out to be false. Kate was put on a seizure medication in the hospital that we are continuing to give her now at home. At this time the neurologists believe that Kate had a "complex febrile seizure" but are not completely sure of the cause. Kate did not have a temp at the time of the initial seizure but upon continued checks it was found that her temp continued rising throughout the day. Kate is on a seizure med because of the length of time the seizure lasted, and the abnormal EEG reading. We have a follow-up appointment with neurology in Feb.

When Kate FINALLY spoke late on Sunday night, after waking up from her drug induced sleep, she said to me, "Mom, I can talk again." I have to tell you that all I wanted all day long was to hear my daughter speak and cry again, and hearing her speak was the most beautiful thing in the whole world. I had these terrible visions of "losing" Kate to this catatonic state she had been in all day, and I can't even begin to tell you what kind of state I would be in right now if Kate was still not talking. After she spoke the first time she said, "I want to go home and I want to see Daddy." I told Kate we had to stay and that Daddy would be back tomorrow, to which she replied, "Well, I've had a very yucky day." That's my Kate! As Kate began getting more happy and even more herself over the next few days she continued saying amazing things. When she woke up the first morning out of the ICU she said to Jeff, "Thank you for my crib. It's incredible." And when Jeff picked us up to take us home on Wed night Kate said to him, "I'm very excited!"

In the midst of this "nightmare" of sorts, I found many things to be thankful for and so many things to appreciate. This experience allowed Jeff and I to spend some very special time with both Brian and Kate, individually. Our life is so crazy busy (well really, just crazy most of the time), that we don't get to take the two older children out alone. With the help of family and friends (God Bless our parents and neighbors) I was able to take Brian out for a doughnut and chocolate milk on Tuesday, and then Jeff took him to McDonald's on Wednesday. And Jeff and I both got to spend so much time just holding and loving and appreciating our little Kate. I don't mean to "diss" Kelly in all this, but she gets A LOT of attention! We also, got to meet some of the most wonderfully caring people I've ever met, at both Newton Wellsely and Mass General. The view from Kate's room at Mass General was incredible, it looked over the Charles and you could see for miles. On Tuesday night I woke up to see the moon right in the middle of the clear black sky, and the water of the Charles sparkling down below. However, I am most grateful and blessed to have had all of you praying for us, and telling other people to pray for our family. Of course I would rather this had never happened at all, but had it not, I (we) would never have had the gift of all your love and prayers.

Jeff and I believe that life is a gift, and that Kate and Brian and Kelly are all gifts that God has given to us. Thank you all so much for looking to God and asking Him to take good care of this little life that he created.

Kate is peacefully sleeping right now with her roommate, best buddy, and brother, Brian, and she's holding her bear and blanket that went with her everywhere throughout her whole ordeal.

Please know that you are all in our prayers and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts.

God Bless,

Colleen, Jeff, Brian, Kelly and most importantly Kate Kate :-)