Doing Much Better

Makenna thankfully is feeling much better. I love seeing a happy-go-lucky child who laughs and makes me laugh at her little quirky things. Plus, we know for a surety that she does NOT have leukemia which is such a massive weight off us.

Makenna had to give more blood on Monday and again yesterday (Wednesday). Her platelet numbers were up on Monday, but only slightly. Then on Wednesday, they were up from 64,000 to 84,000. They are still below average, as average is 125,000 to 200,000. They still feel that she had some sort of viral infection - a "mono cousin" as the doctor called it. He explained that it wasn't mono "exactly" but there are other infections that present like mono but are a variation, thus "mono cousin."

I had a feeling that she was getting better as a lot of the spots (patikieye - have no idea how you spell it) were disappearing. She still has some spots but they are faded. Plus, being a little "stinker" is a good indication that she's starting to feel better. We are just so grateful for friends and family who sent prayers and blessings our way to help us through this very scary time.

Later, the doctor called us at home to say that the specialist in Syracuse was glad to see the numbers improved but because they are still low, that she wants Makenna tested again in 4 - 6 weeks. At least this gives her fingers a chance to heal before they get more blood from them.

What was funny was Makenna still didn't like it but she cried a lot less, more of a whimper, yesterday. But each time she would say, "other kids turn?" her way of trying to say that she's trying to "share" the experience with other kids. She'd also add, "time to go" and "I want to go outside." Again, her ways of trying to get out of it. We would just be driving down the street of the hospital and she'd see it and start whimpering, "no, no, no." But like I said, she was a trouper yesterday.

Someone reminded me yesterday that I need to be more disciplined and write down all the quirky things Makenna does or says on a daily basis to remind myself and as a way to "torture" her when she's older.

So here are a few things from yesterday and today:

- She picks up her Iggle-Piggle doll (from "In the Night Garden" - a show in England) and looks at him and says, "Are you poopy?" "Are you stinky?" "You need your nappy changed?" "No you're not stinky, just wet."

- Stating, "God is good, God is great, ...." as we bless our food, in an English accent - love it!!

- Locking herself in my car today as she was "driving" and me trying to explain to her how to try and unlock it. She was trying to press buttons and then she told me, "hold on, just a minute," and she went over towards the passenger door and tried using that button. After five minutes, I relented and went inside and got the extra set of keys to get her out - now I remember why I don't give her the keys. Plus, she almost stuck the correct key into the ignition...I can only imagine if she learned to turn it on!

- Telling her cousin Elijah today as we were leaving, "I need a kiss Eli, I Love you."

- Yesterday in the doctor's office, riding in the boat and yelling, "come on stupid!" really loud as she's turning the wheel to the boat.

I'm sure there's more and now I will try and be more disciplined, because the person that reminded me is right...I don't want to forget these cute moments and as I look back at our other blog (chrisandterijo.blogspot.com) I realize that if it wasn't for writing every day, there would've been things I would've definitely forgotten. Plus, I need to get some pictures up!

Help Daddy, Help

Okay these two words when spoken by a toddler who needs a hand getting off the floor or walking across some balance beam is cute and puts a smile in your heart. But when spoken by a toddler who is screaming for true help to stop a painful thing happening to her just makes you cry. Especially when it's something you have to let her experience.

For over a week or so I've noticed a strange rash on Makenna's left arm in the crook of it. Then all of a sudden I've noticed it on her left leg. At first I thought it was a heat rash of sorts. When it started to get darker I got concerned. I took her to the doctor's on Monday who said that it may be some sort of allergy or it may be some sort of viral infection that is manifesting in this rash.

I kept an eye on it all week and bought and used the Hydrocortisone cream as recommended. She had a fever a few times through the week and then today we woke up and she had the rash all up her back. I called the doctor again and after a stressful visit he asked us to go to the hospital to have blood drawn for a CBC count along with a few other tests.

It was very hard to get Makenna calm enough to get through the exam with the doctor (as it was on Monday,) but now at the hospital and having them trying to get her to calm down enough to get blood drawn was down right horrific.

It seems that they could not get a vein to draw blood from and it didn't help that she was squirming all over the place even with a few people holding her down. They tried on both arms and eventually after 15 minutes or so were able to get some blood drawn. I was already in tears by that point.

She had been screaming, "Help daddy, help daddy," repeatedly. It just tore me up as it did Chris, who was one of the people trying to hold her down. Then she'd say, "outside," and "I think we're done." We tried talking to her about different things and even said we'd go to get ice cream after. She didn't care and she just wanted to be done.

When we finally got her home, she went straight to a nap, not surprisingly. We both said how we sincerely hoped that we wouldn't have to go through that again for many years to come--until she could understand. Well, that hope was short lived. The hospital called about a half hour after we were home to say that we'd have to come down and have her give some more as the blood for the CBC clotted and they couldn't get an accurate reading. We both cringed but said we'd be down after she woke up from her nap. At least this time they pin-pricked her finger and got what they needed. She still screamed and put up a fuss but it wasn't as bad. They also gave her a $10 Target gift card for having to do this again which I thought was nice and will go towards some toy.

After, we headed off to Sam's Club as Makenna kept asking for "Steak and sauce" for dinner. We realized once we got home and she was whining incessantly for food, that she hadn't eaten all day. She had been offered food various times but always refused so it was no surprise that she literally wolfed down steak. She still said no to ice cream though...she must be sick!

Well, the bad news continues as we have to go back yet again tomorrow to repeat the test as her CBC was low - something like 64,000 and I thought the doctor said it should be over 124,000. Chris heard over 200,000. Not to mention that the rash seemed to spread up to her scalp and her face a bit. That could be because of the straining and crying she was doing. The doctor said it was like little blood vessels are bursting and that's the spotting we're seeing. So it wouldn't be surprising if we saw more of it with all she'd been through today.

All I know is that we have said some prayers, had a blessing for her and will hope that whatever this viral infection is, goes away and that it's not anything more serious than that. I do find it a bit coincidental that this time last year in England, we were going through an illness with her. Of course, she was sick a lot in England but it seems like July may be a bad month for Makenna if this trend continues.

Catch-chew

The bad thing now that I'm home is that I'm not keeping up with this blog as I did in England. So I end up missing out on writing about all of Makenna's advances in growing.

I realized the other day that she's really understanding concepts and we have two way conversations. Not always the way I want it to go but she's quick to pick up and figure things out. The other day we were eating at a restaurant and she took a napkin and was wiping the table saying, "I sweep up daddy's mess." I told her that was a good idea as daddy makes lots of messes.

She's also still on her chicken nugget kick so I've resorted to buying some healthier ones from Morning Star or any veggie type ones. She doesn't seem to know the difference. She does seem to also think she lives in a jail as she has been asking for bread and catch-chew (Ketchup). I figure, well it's simple and easy and if she will eat it (and it's whole wheat bread) why not?

I've taken her to a gymnastics class the last 3 Saturdays. It's really just at a gymnastics place and she can play and run around on the different equipment. It's just to get them used to the equipment so that when they're around 3.5 - 4 they can be taught and not be afraid of the equipment or be tempted to run off to see all the equipment as they know what's there. Two Saturday's ago, (only her second class) she received a medal and certificate. Chris didn't feel it was "deserved" but Makenna seemed to really enjoy her medal. In fact, I think she was expecting one this past Saturday. We hope to start this again in the Fall as it's done for the Summer.

I'm hoping to hear about swim classes for her for the Summer so that will take up some of her time. Plus I signed her up for a Bee-Boppin-Tots class on Tuesday nights where she can dance and sing and play with different toys. Whatever we can do to keep her active as if we're not going outside or going "bye-bye" she's leaving on her own accord. She can reach the front door lock and turn it and then open the door and leave. She has also now figured out how to open the back sliding glass door. So we're in BIG trouble. She also has now figured out that she can get herself out of bed without our help and even this morning, we woke up to someone poking Chris in the back, saying "Daddy."

She's starting to get more possessive "that's mine!, not yours!" That's a lot of fun. How do you explain that yes the shoe is "hers" but mommy & daddy paid for it, so it's not "fully yours?" She wants to still drive all the time. She actually wore Chris's battery down in his car as we didn't realize a light was on for over 24 hours. We had to go buy a new battery.

She's also unfortunately quite a klutz. I hope this is normal?! She has a bump on her head from tripping and falling into our deck railing. She has a scrape on her elbow from falling off a chair and scrapping it on the way down to the floor on the desk. She has a scrape, make that two scrapes on her one leg from falling in Jessica & Jared's driveway and then we went over to Josh & Autumn's and she fell there! Then today she tripped and fell again on that same leg and cut it open again on a rug. That doesn't even count all the falls and trips she's had without obvious cuts and bruises. I hope she grows out of this soon or she's going to look like a bruise from head to toe. What's worse is that she's mimicking me when she points them out as she says, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to." I usually tell her that I'm sorry she got hurt. I start to feel guilty with the intonation she uses.

Well, now that I catch-chew up on Makenna, a brief update on us. I'm back to work part-time at Catholic Charities again and Chris is back at his job. Our stuff from England arrived this past Thursday (June 25th) which was just over a month from when we shipped it. It arrived at a good time as we were able to open the boxes and then give them Jess & Jared so that they could use them to pack and move out the next day to their new home.

We still have to organize things and put things back to order from when they moved in and we moved things around but that can happen in time. We're also preparing to have our bathroom remodeled so that will be a lot of noise and mess coming up.

I'll have to get some pictures up soon. I should take some before and after pictures of our bathroom now that i think of it.

Let's Say Hello to Jesus

Tonight we went to the Vestal Parkway where their is a "Reflections of Christ" portrait and movie happening. When you first go in there is a picture of the Christos statue and someone gives a little blurb and then plays a short CD. Well, while we were sitting there, Makenna was saying, "See the picture of Jesus?" I said, "Yes, I see the picture of Jesus." She then said, "Let's go say hello!" I replied, "Let's!" She went up to the picture and was again how it was a picture of Jesus and then we said hello. I though tit was so cute.

We walked around and looked at the pictures that were hanging, of which two, I really wanted for our house. Well, then we went in and watched the DVD which was on how the photographer took the pictures and his inspiration for some of the shots. While we were in this room watching the movie, Makenna saw the part where Christ was on a rock in Gethsemane. When she saw it, she said, "Jesus is sleeping." How do you reply to that? I just said, "well, not quite."

The only downside is that she ended up having a really stinky diaper and with about 10 minutes left to the movie, I didn't want to leave. It stunk up the room and she kept saying, "You stinky? You need nappy changed?" Luckily the only other people in the room were two other girls from my church so they laughed at Makenna's antics.

A Great Safety Message

This link (as I don't know how to embed the video itself from YouTube) is a great safety message - and it happens to be of my Aunt Phyllis and her son Daniel, my cousin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7u09HRDNf6M

Houston - We've Pooped in the Potty!

Yes I'm sharing the first poop in the potty story. It's better than taking a picture and posting it too so be grateful I'm not Kate (from John & Kate Plus 8).

I was cleaning the bathroom and figured I'd put Makenna on the potty watching Baby Da Vinci. As I was cleaning our toilet, I heard her say, "Oh, did you go poopy?" I repeated it back to her as this is not a new comment from her so I wasn't expecting much.

I was elated (and a bit grossed out) when I saw that she did actually poop in the potty! I think she was just as surprised. This netted her a monster sticker (which she so very badly wants all the time) and two pieces of candy. The nice thing - the clean up was a lot less than if she had gone in her diaper.

Here's to hoping that we have more success as the days roll along!

Work, Facebook, and "People in England"

Well it was my first week back at work and it wasn't too bad. I loved the feeling of getting things accomplished. Not that I wasn't getting things accomplished in England - but it's noticed and appreciated and I think that's a big difference. It was just like falling of a bike and getting back on as so many told me. Although, I forgot a few things like how to put on the brakes and to turn the pedals but it's coming back. It'll be nice when the agency picnic happens in a few weeks (as long as it's a nice day,) and to be able to see more of my co-workers and show them how big Makenna has grown.

Okay, well, I've finally broke down and joined facebook. I held out as long as possible but I did it so I could stay in better touch with people from England. I was able to show Makenna some pictures of Hannah from facebook and she didn't want to stop looking. At this point, I'm still stumbling around trying to figure it out and I've wasted wayyyyyy to much time on it trying to see pictures on others' pages and finding friends/family. Plus, trying to find other people I may have not thought of by looking at other people's friends. I hope that once I get the hang of this huge time waster that I won't be wasting as much time.

Speaking of England, I do find myself really missing my routine there and missing the time we were able to spend together as a family. Chris is now back into the swing of things at work and I'm back into the swing of complaining that he doesn't come home at a decent hour.

Makenna and I went to visit my grandmother at the nursing home yesterday and she kept saying to people, "Do you want to meet some people from England?" I felt awkward when I didn't come out with an English accent. In fact, I tried to say very minimal so that they didn't think it weird. I finally broke down by the third person and explained that we were just living there for a year, not that we immigrated here from there.

I have to add one cute thing that Makenna said tonight when I woke her up from her nap. I told her that we were having chicken and noodles in the hopes that, that information would persuade her not to be miserable. It worked as she said, "mmm, I like that." Worked until she came down and realized that I wasn't done cooking. Then the "teenager" come out in her and she whined and complained until dinner was ready.

Well, back to facebook to try and see what pictures I can add and who has considered me good enough to call "friend."