So sad for Kayleigh Freeman

For the past few months or so I have been following the story of a baby who defied many odds after being born at just one pound. The baby's name is Kayleigh Anne Freeman.

Kayleigh has remained unchanged in the past few days since they discovered that a large portion of her brain is no longer working. Kayleigh is 10 months old, but has never left the NICU due to numerous different issues that have delayed her leaving. She had one last surgery within the last week before she was slated to go home, and now she may be gone.

If you are the praying sort, please pray that Kayleigh's parents have the strength to make whatever decisions are necessary. At this time I have a link to Kayleigh's blog on the left side of the screen.

Thanks,
Melinda

Some prayers answered ... (for Stellan)

Here is poor Julia with her fat lip and Blake in their orange for Stellan today. I sent this picture in during my lunch hour as I ran out of time this morning. Stellan had some success with his ablation ... time is the true test. I am so relieved ... like so many I was checking in constantly on the MckMama blog. I couldn't see twitter at work and that was where I KNEW updates would show up. It felt like I was sitting in a waiting room waiting for news of a close relative, even though we've never met. I sat and teared up at the obvious outpouring through the "Wear Orange for Stellan" photos popping up on the blog, and teared up whenever I thought of him. Then I would stop and imagine what my coworkers would think if they saw me crying over someone I've never met ... and when I haven't even heard bad news! That is the power of the Internet, the power of the written word, and a higher power? I still don't know how I happened upon MckMama's (Jen's) blog, but I am ever so glad that I did.

So thanks if you read my post and thought about or prayed for Stellan ... and if you can hang in there with me and keep it up I'd be thrilled.

Thanks,
Melinda

Pray for Stellan

I feel so helpless. It his how I would guess Stellan's mom must be feeling right now. All I feel I can do is ask for prayers, and so here I am asking for prayers on a blog that no one reads ... well, next to no one. I've posted at Digishoptalk (www.digishoptalk.com) and Gotta Pixel (www.gottapixel.net), and I'll visit my other message boards and facebook today too. I just want to spread the word!!!

So please pray for Stellan ... his ablation is scheduled for tomorrow morning if they can even hold out that long. His heart is having a lot of issues today that may make it necessary to be sooner if I read correctly.

Thanks,
Me

Praying for Stellan

There is a sweet little boy named Stellan who has been dealing with SVT for quite a while now. He was in the PICU for around 3 weeks! He is finally being moved to a step-down unit and might be hearing the miraculous word "HOME" soon ... but I still wanted to show our support for his situation!

So, here is a photo that MckMama posted on her blog that struck a cord in my heart turned into a "Praying for Stellan" page:


photo by MckMama * kit: Lil' Sweetheart by Jennifer Barrette at www.gottapixel.net
fonts: Pea Carrie and Carlotta

You can read all about his journey on MckMama's blog "my charming kids."

Thanks for reading and adding your thoughts and prayers for continued good news for Stellan and his family!

Road to Recovery?

I didn't originally have a question mark at the end of the title to this post, but I feel like I'm jinxing myself if I say it with certainty. I am still not 100%, and neither is Blake. Julia and Chase seem fine, and I take some comfort in that. Poor Blake just can't quit clearing his throat, and he coughs and I just think something is still up with him. But honestly, I think he's been clearing his throat like that since his surgery a year ago, so who knows?

For anyone who is reading but doesn't talk to me regularly, I got really sick after my last post and ended up missing 4 days of work due to myself ... and it would have been more but there was a weekend in there. Yeah. Well, then I hurt my neck presumably from coughing so much! Around the 23rd my neck started hurting and as the week went on it got worse and by Friday afternoon I went to my team leader and asked if I could leave and dissolved into tears.

I was given some pain meds and a steroid to help the swelling come down, and to help my sinuses and coughing subside faster, and I was sent to Physical Therapy. Yep, all because I coughed ... only me, I tell ya. I am feeling much better after only two sessions of PT, though sitting at my 'puter at work does get things tightened up again. Who knew? I thought I spent a lot of time turning my head at my job, but I guess it is a lot less than I thought. I should be done with PT soon, though ... tomorrow is my next session at SIX THIRTY AM ... yes, I am crazy. I will make it there on time, I will make it there on time, I will not sleep in, I will not sleep in ... that is my mantra.

Over the weekend I cleaned house (yep, a sure sign my neck is starting to feel better), and the kids and I cleaned out the car. Then I vacuumed it out and wiped down the console. It looks so nice, and Blake has commented on how much he likes it this way. I explained that over the winter we get in a hurry because we want to get out of the cold and just leave stuff in the car, but we will be better about it now ... hopefully we can keep it up. :)

Anyway, we also played outside, and a (new? - haven't seen him before recently) boy from down the street brought his BIG bottle of bubble soap over and so my kids brought theirs out too and they blew bubbles in the 40 degree weather. Actually, it was probably a little cooler than that. It wasn't warm. But, I got some awesome pictures ... check these out! (These are completely unedited -- no color adjustments or anything, so please forgive me if they are off at all.)











I also got to visit with my friend Rhonda for a while on Sunday. She stopped over to get some help with her taxes. I started out working on them, and then she took over ... really, it's just read and plug in the numbers, mark yes or no to questions ... they do the rest. I was basically just doing it because I've been through it so many times that it goes a little faster for me. So anyway, we started that and almost got that done, and then we went out for lunch to Burger King, and over to her apartment to visit. It was nice! We haven't gotten together in what seems like forever. The kids all seemed to get along ok too ... the big kids were content to watch TV, too, though lol ... so that helped! :)

Well, 6:30 will come extremely early, so I had better get this posted. I just had to show off my fancy camera work, lol ... they did turn out pretty well if I do say so myself. :)

Thanks for reading my babbling, and even more for looking at the pictures,

Melinda