Snow Day

We've had (it seems) more than our share of snow so far this year.
And it doesn't appear to be over any time soon.
What started out yesterday as rain, changed to sleet this morning and then quickly snow - a heavy wet snow.
School was dismissed early.
Leila and I were there, but left before the dismissal time.
The roads got so bad, so fast that I even texted the boys and told them to skip out of their last class and come on home.

Since it wasn't overly cold (and Austin was actually home today), the boys decided to take Leila out to play.
Up until this year, she has NOT been a fan of playing in the snow.
I haven't played in the snow for quite a while myself, so I joined them too.
It wasn't good snow for sleigh riding - ours wouldn't go.
But it's perfect snow for building a snowman or snowball fights.
Our snowman turned out pretty pitiful, but it was fun anyway.
And Leila loved 'throwing' her snowballs at the boys.

Cleveland

Mom and Dad left for Cleveland Clinic last Mon.
Darrell, Leila and I went up on Thurs to be with them over the weekend.

I really think Cleveland is the coldest place I've ever been.
It snowed almost continuously while we were there.
Temperatures were in the single digits (or below) and that's not counting the wind chill from the ever present breeze off frozen Lake Erie.

As far as Dad goes, it seems like things change daily.
He originally went up there to have a 'port' put in.
They did something called a 'Swans-Ganz Right Heart Catherization' on Fri.
Based on those results, they're not going to do the port now.
He has fluid buildup. As of today, they've taken 21 lbs of fluid off him, and there's still more to go.
His left leg isn't going down at all, and at this point, they're not sure why.
They changed some of his medications today.
It seems as though his options for treatment are dwindling. And none of them they've mentioned yet is extremely appealing.

Leila did pretty good to have been cooped up in either the hospital or the hotel for 4 days.
And Darrell was invaluable with his help. (He's such a good boy.) I'm glad I let him miss a day of school to go with me.

The bright spot in the weekend though was lunch on Fri.
We have friends that we traveled to China with in 2008 that live in that area.
They braved the cold and ventured out to meet us for lunch.
It was SO nice to see them and catch up a little bit in person.
I hated to see our time together end.

After leaving them, Darrell and I decided to explore a little and go see Lake Erie.
It's all frozen!
I only made it part way down to the lake from where we parked.
It was so cold it made me hurt. (We didn't exactly bring clothes for Arctic weather.)
Darrell went on as far as he could. He wanted to find a place to walk on the lake.
Not being from the area and not really having any idea where we were going, we didn't find a place with 'walking access'. He did get some good pictures though.

Leila and Claire


All Ice

Christmas

Dad's been in and out of the hospital several times in the last month.
He was home for Christmas though.

Christmas was relatively laid back this year.
In spite of all the hustle and bustle and busyness, you realize that the only thing that really matters is being together.
We went to Jim and Marcia's house (my aunt and uncle) on Christmas Eve.
No gifts - just visiting, eating and spending time together.
Christmas morning we opened presents and then had dinner at our house.
We finished out the day at Mom and Dad's.

Leila thoroughly enjoyed Christmas this year.
But she is slow, slow, slow at opening presents. It took her forever. One little piece of wrapping paper at a time - put that little piece in the trash - play with whatever it was - convince her to move on to the next one - over and over again.
Quite a time-comsuming process!
Although she liked the toys she got, she LOVED the candy.
(Santa probably could have saved some money if he'd skipped the toys and just brought candy.)

Christmas Sunday

Santa's Cookies

Christmas Morning

Grandkids

My Dad

My dad has been having a lot of problems lately.
He's got congestive heart failure.
The fluid is building up really bad. (His legs and feet are swollen so bad that it doesn't even look like he has ankles.)
He spent a day or 2 in the hospital here last week.
Another problem that he's facing is that he HAS to have lasics to get rid of the fluid for his heart, and yet the lasics are destroying his kidneys.
For whatever unknown reason - they sent him home last week without resolving the fluid issue.
Now it's gotten worse.
Yesterday morning early, his defibulator shocked him - 3 times.
Mom took him to the ER.
They then transferred him by ambulance to Cleveland Clinic.
He goes there for 'routine maintence'. He's considered a 'complicated case'.
Here's a little history:
He had an artificial heart valve put in back in 1982. Then later on, he needed another one. That's when they sent him to Cleveland. At that point, they put in another valve and also replaced the 1st one. A few years ago, they sent him back up there to put in a pacemaker/defibulator. (That's gone off more than once since then.)
At this point, they're running tests, but I don't know a whole lot else.
Please keep him/us in your prayers.

Getting ready for Christmas

I usually get stressed out a little this time of year.
I always think I won't get everything ready in time.
I always do - but there are still times I doubt I'll be able to pull it all off.
It seems even harder this year - with having to go to school!
Last week, I was in a serious tizzy over it all.
Not so much now. I'm going to make it.
At this point, I think I have all my cards done, I'm 3/4 way done wrapping, and all my shopping is done.
I haven't started baking yet, but I'll get there.

Our Advent Calendar


Putting Up The Tree




We even went to see Santa last weekend.
He wasn't nearly as scary as he was last year.
She didn't sit on his lap, but she did talk to him.

School

Leila started pre-school right after Thanksgiving.
Her pre-school is thru the public school system.
It's all day, 4 days a week.
We're not doing that yet though.
Leila has severe attachment issues and separation anxiety.
It's not that she's NOT attached - rather she's TOO attached.
And it seems as though, she get worse the older she gets.
The only people she will stay with willingly now is the 4 of us and my mom.

The school is wonderful though.
They are really bending over backwards to work with us.
So far, I take her in late (she's not a morning person).
We leave early.
My plan was to gradually stretch her day, and go in a little earlier and leave a little later until she's there all day.
My plan was to also leave her there. So far that hasn't happened.
The school lets me stay there with her. (I'm the only mommy that doesn't drop and leave.)

She likes school.
When I ask her if she wants to go - she always says yes.
She grabs her little backpack and is ready.
However...since school started, she hasn't been sleeping.
Leila has ALWAYS been a good sleeper - 12 hrs at night, and then a 1-2 hr nap.
She now wakes up almost every night and cries for hrs.
We've even cut out naps in at attempt to makes her sleep all night out of sheer exhaustion.
I took her to the doctor too.
We thought that maybe there was a medical reason for this (like an ear infection). Nope.
The doctor thinks it's anxiety related.
She's been home now for over 2 years, she was so young when we got her, and she didn't have any adjustment issues back then - so I didn't think her 'unique situation' (as the doctor calls it), should be causing issues now.
Not so.
The doctor said that studies have shown the 1st year is so very, very important and that it can/will cause issues for years.
Her recommendation is to give it till Christmas and then re-evaluate.
If she's still not sleeping, maybe we need to cut back on school rather than increase the time there.
After all, she is still a very young '3'.
I don't think we should 'drop-out' though. (Wow, a preschool drop-out!)
If nothing else, maybe she should just continue to go one day a week.
That way, she would still get speech, still get some socialization with kids her age, and get her more and more familiar and comfortable for next year.
I'm just not sure right now - this has been very stressful for all of us.

Thanksgiving

Wow, I am behind on my posts.

I'll start with Thanksgiving.
We surely had a full house here.
Both of David's brothers came into town. (One from MD and one from GA.)
It was a nice day.
I think we had 23 people here for dinner. (Good thing I've got a big kitchen!)

I did go shopping on Black Friday.
Lisa didn't go with me though.
I was really sad about that - I missed her.
She and I ALWAYS go together.
That's 'OUR' day - all ours, all day.
But my sister-in-law went. I've never been shopping with her, and we had a nice time.
She's probably one of the most easy-going people I know.
She never seems to get upset or say anything bad about anyone. (Perhaps I should strive to be more like her!)