GOODBYE MY LITTLE SOPHIA

(Sophia is the one in front)

I came home from work yesterday and found my little female cockatiel was sick. I called the vet and they had me come right over. My little Sophia was what they call egg bound. She had this huge egg inside of her that was to big for her to pass. The doctor was able to remove the egg, but warned me that it was still touch and go with her. Their poor little bodies can fill with toxins because the egg had blocked her from going to the bathroom. I was surprised that she made it through the night. I took her back to the vet this morning because I noticed she still hadn't gone to the bathroom. The doctor said she had a 50/50 chance, but our little Sophia passed away this afternoon.

I had no idea that she could produce eggs without a nesting box in her cage. Our other bird is named Ellie, but we have always suspected "she" might be a "he". The doctor said that Ellie might be a girl, but if Sophia thought of Ellie as a mate, she could still produce eggs. Poor Ellie was calling to Sophia this morning, but Sophia was to weak to call back. Jeff buried Sophia outside under the bird bath.

Thanks for all your comments regarding my boys. Ian hasn't gotten sick since I last posted (knock on wood). Griffin's knee wasn't broken and he is doing much better. He only was on crutches for two days. Thank you for putting us in your thoughts and prayers.

Come on referrals!!! It would be nice to have some good news around here!

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS

I know I'm a bit early posting my monthly update. Our family has had a lot of stress this past month and I'm feeling the need to lean on my online family.

First, Ian (my 6 year old) has been battling the flu on and off for the last 4 1/2 weeks. Ian has basically come down with flu symptoms 3 separate occasions with a fever thrown in a 4th time. I also had the flu back in February and my other son had it a week or so later. I figured we must have had two different strains of the flu in our house. Ian also had one of the bouts two days after he received his Hep A shot (end of February). I took him to the doctor on Monday after the symptoms returned. They were unable to do a strep test because, Ian is not the easiest patient to deal with. They also tried to do a urine test, but Ian wasn't able to go. I later took his urine sample to the hospital and that came back negative. Yesterday, the doctors office called and told me that they were calling in a prescription for Zantac (for upset stomach). I picked it up yesterday afternoon and gave Ian a dose. Ian had been symptom free of the flu symptoms for 30 hours.....He was symptom free for 24 hours BEFORE he took the Zantac. Ian woke us up around midnight last night after he had thrown up. I thought I better give him another dose of the Zantac and send him back to bed. After I gave him another dose (and turned on the light to clean up after him), I noticed that he was COVERED in hives! I immediately took him to the hospital and we were there for a couple hours during the night. They said that he must be allergic to the Zantac and gave him something to relieve the hives. I had them perform the strep test and it came back negative...sigh. The hives are completely gone this morning. I'm curious if ANYONE has heard this is a bad flu season and people getting it more than once. PLEASE leave me a comment as I'm scared to death over this.

Then, I get a call from Griffin's school that he hurt his knee in his 1st hour gym class. Thank God, my mother was able to go pick him up so I wouldn't need to take Ian out of the house. We made a call to Jeff and decided to send him to have an x-ray taken. My mom took him up to our office and I'm just waiting to hear what Jeff thinks is wrong with it.

Lastly, we have been going through unbelievable stress and heartache over someone close to us. It's nothing that I feel that I can mention on this blog, so I must keep silent. I'm at the point now, that I know that it's out of my hands. If you could send some good thoughts our way, I would be grateful.

TAKING A BREAK

I've been feeling the need to take a little blogging break lately. It's not at all because I'm down about the slowness of the adoption. I've thought about just doing monthly posts until we get closer to referral time. I want to spend the time that I usually spend on the computer getting some things accomplished.....I need to start working-out, I have to get caught up at work (don't even ask what month I'm on with month-end stuff at our office) and I want to spend more time with Ian before Ava comes home. Ian just loves his Mommy and Ian days (when his brother & sissy are at school) and I was figuring out that we really don't have many left. My little guy is going to be at school 5 days a week next year..Sniff. I'll still be around checking in on you from time to time....I just need to cut back a little.

THE NUMBER 12

One year ago today, our paperwork was logged in at the CCAA. I can't believe that we have crossed an entire year off the calendar.....The hard part right now is not knowing how many more days will still need to be crossed off. It was very disappointing after the last batch of referrals were sent, as all of us ALWAYS hope for more days.....If only they could have referred a couple more days (I say that EVERY month). Unless you are in the process, you don't realize how important those couple days mean. The CCAA might be so close to referring your LID (or one of your close adoption pals) that you can taste it....Only to miss the cut off by a couple days. Those couple days will then add another month to your wait and so on and so on and so on. I read a comment from Doris on another blog and she said it best......Referral time is bittersweet. We are so happy that referrals are finally arriving and so excited to get a peek at those adorable babies, yet so sad that with each passing month the wait lengthens. Referral day then turns into a sad time for us and that's a shame. But, what can we do but pick ourselves back up, dust ourselves off and hope that things are better the next month. If you lose hope, what's left? I have to have hope.....Hope that we will see Ava's face THIS year....Hope things will eventually speed up. Now that I've dusted myself back off, I'm going to find my happy place again......I can't guarantee that I will always stay there.....But today I'm determined to find it. I think I'm going to celebrate today by taking a trip to the mall.....Hey, I told you that I'm in search of my happy place....That's at least a place to check, right? I think I'll check first at the Coach store and then at Mrs. Fields cookies...............................

Sending a big hug to Melissa because it's also her 1 year LID Anniversary today (and because I miss her).

THIS -N- THAT

Yep, the stork has landed! Referrals were sent that cover LID's of October 14 through October 24, 2005. They did 11 days this month......Sigh. With a LID of March 8, 2006.....We are going to be on this rollercoaster for quite some time. Congratulations to the families that made it in this batch. My heart goes out to those of you that were so close and didn't make it. Next time.

Nope, this isn't a picture of Jeter. We saw this "little" guy walking down the middle of the road on Saturday afternoon. You can imagine how toasted Luna was when Jeff stopped and put him in our car. I had to keep telling Luna, "Calm down, it ISN'T Jeter." If you weren't aware, Luna and Jeter have had quite a history together. Let's just say that Luna looks sweet......But she wanted a piece of him in a BIG way! I stopped off at the corner store to put a sign up that we found this Jeter look alike. The man at the store told me that he knows whose dog it was. A lady was in his store putting up a sign and was bawling her eyes out. I called her from the store and she was SOOOOOO happy that I found him. I guess Mugsy wandered off on Thursday night and was out in all the terrible weather we were having. It was so nice to have a happy ending......Besides, I don't need 5 dogs! Here is a picture of Luna after Mugsy left.....I told you she looks sweet.


Jeff and I went out on a little date on Sunday. We stopped off to eat at our new favorite place.....Famous Dave's. Let me tell ya, you have NO idea how good this place smells when you step out of your car. It's UNBELIEVABLE! I just had to wipe some drool off my keyboard.
How cool is THIS? They have 6 kinds of BQ sauce!!! Check out the paper towels on each table! How smart is THAT?!

CONTINUED

Here is a picture of what Jeff ordered for dinner....Notice the beans....I guess someone forgot that they were on a date!


Here is a picture of my dinner....You can't tell that I'm a HUGE fan of potatoes, can ya???


Next stop.....Meijer Gardens! It's such a nice place to go on a cold winter day!


As soon as you walk in the door.....The winter coat comes off! Ahhhhhh...The feeling of Spring!


We took this picture of ourselves sitting on a bench in the gardens. Sure, we look like we were getting along. Jeff and I were pushing eachother out of the way, trying to get the BEST photo of the butterflies. The poor guy didn't stand a chance with the likes of my new camera! Yeah, we're a little competitive!!


Here are a few of my favorite shots.........


Ohhhhhhhhhh


Ahhhhhhhhhh


Yeah baby, I got the best shot of the day.....



It was a wonderful day. I can see a few more trips planned to Meijer Garden in the very near future. We have ANOTHER day off school today because of the ice. This has been a very looooooooog, cold winter!

Two Angry Women - Female Road Rage.

Female Road Rage.More videos @ www.thevideosense.com/user/vids/

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCOTT!

Today is my brother's Birthday. I won't mention how old he is today because that would just be rude. It's just obvious from this photo that he is the OLDER brother!...Sorry. It's also obvious from this photo how much I love him. Happy Birthday, Scott! Scott, don't you feel bad now for picking on me when I was little? Look how much I loved you!



I just noticed that the year is printed on the picture....Crap, we're both busted!

OUCH!!

We started our shots for China yesterday. We tried to keep it a secret from Ian until the very last minute.....Then his brother Griffin, let the cat out of the bag. We were trying to pump him up in the first picture.


Then.....Jeff and I found out that we would need 5 shots each....Of course, none were oral and none were combination shots. Hope just needed a Hep A, Griffin needed a Hep A and an updated tetanus and Ian just needed a Hep A (Thank God!!). To hell with the typhoid!


It took FOREVER for the nurse to draw up all those injections. Here is a picture of me waiting to be called in.


Here is Jeff and Ian waiting (Ian was actually doing pretty good at this time).


And here is Griffin waiting to be called back. (Hope refused to have her picture taken)


Here are all the shots. They covered the entire left side of the room.


And part of the right.



After all was said and done.....It WASN'T that bad at all. Our arms are a little sore from the tetanus shots, but it's not that bad. I'm SOOOOO happy to cross this off my to do list!

*****Some pictures of individuals may have been slightly exaggerated.