Love those pink Vans!

I just couldn't resist!

I wonder if Lacy realizes that she has more shoes than most adults!

Probably not.

Old pics, new pics

A while back we went to Disneyland with a dear friend I have had for 21 years now! (So strange since we are only in our early 20's! ha!) Sarah brought her two daughters and we all enjoyed a day with Disney. I couldn't find the camera, so that's why it's been so darn long!

Here is Lacy today. Watching Beauty and the Beast while we wait for a visit from one of the millions of people who come through our home to check on Lacy!

Always good to wear a princess dress and hold Beast while watching the movie! This was a very dramatic part of the movie... Beast was fighting with Gaston!

Life is good!

Six years and counting...

The search continues

And so do the questions...

Do we rent?

Do we buy?

Taxes are crazy for both buyers and renters...

This is the latest little beauty.

Home?!?

I found this little piece of property for sale. It's within our price range. We could do the down payment. (Almost). Now all we need is a loan.

Make a few calls.

Say a few prayers.

See what happens, huh? 4 bedroom/ 3 bath

I have angered the gamers...

A million posts ago I blogged about Randy's online games. About once a week or so I get a nasty message left to me on my blog. I find this pretty funny. They are a very angry bunch of people. Feel free to read the nasty comments. Those brave little gamers managed to post their rants under anonymous! Too funny!

Just like her mom...

I look at Lacy and I wonder this: are we sure she isn't genetically mine?

Maybe we have gone a little overboard with the Disney thing around our house! Lacy was pretty excited that she found a mickey face!

Early Morning

It is now 7:33 am and I feel like I am already half way through my day. It's gonna be a long one! Our nurse called off last night, and Thurs night/ Fri mornings are always sticky. Randy has to be at his clinical site at 6am and I don't get home from work till 7am. Normally we have the one nurse that we trust working on that night. So this morning Randy dropped Lacy off at the hospital where I work at the crack of dawn! I managed to finish up all of my patient care, so I just had her follow me around and finish up any of the equipment I needed to put away. While I was working on a neonate transport ventilator, Lacy started asking me what color certain things were. She is no longer asking me out of curiosity, she has started quizzing me! (Yes she thinks we are peers) I answered every question correctly, but she insisted on telling me I was wrong! Finally she turned to me and said, "You are wrong! I am done teaching you!" I just don't know where she gets this stuff. Randy and I make it a HUGE point to be very gracious with her learning. Clearly she doesn't buy into our program.

We got home around 7am and Lacy was instructed to get ready for preschool. I placed her clothes on the bed (in the order they were to be put on her body) and told her that she is responsible to take care of everything. Lacy swiftly hid all of the clothes in different places around her room (I still haven't found her Cinderella underwear!) and told me that, "I just can't do it, I don't know where my clothes are". I found the rest of her clothes, pulled a new pair of underwear out of her drawer and this time told her, "You are not to leave the room until your clothes are on your body". Three minutes later she came out fully dressed. Shirt was on backwards and socks were crooked, but it was a good effort overall. I wonder what the rest of the day will bring!

Also... Lacy asked for a car the other day. A real car. On the road. Randy told her no... she grunted when he said no and then after thinking about it for a moment said, "but I asked NICELY!"

Finally, we recieved some lab work back yesterday and Lacy has a very nasty infection in her lungs right now. Evidently she is growing some pretty bad bugs. We were given a 10-day course of antibiotics for her with the "hopes that it will take care of it". I feel like such a dope (and Randy does too) we can't believe we missed that one! What did we do to get bugs like this in her? Did she come this way? If you are the praying type, please join us in prayer that her lung infection heals and that she has less secretions. We will begin the process to take her trache out this summer, and with the amount of secretions she has in her lungs, success will be difficult. I know that we have been blessed with so much in our lives, and I truly believe that Lacy has a genuine blessing on her life. I am hopeful that she will be healed!

Meet EllaBella Bunny...

One of Lacy's staple sleeping pals is EllaBella Bunny. (Couldn't decide if she should be called Ella or Bella, hence EllaBella.) It was determined today that Lacy should not be the only individual on a vent at this time. "EllaBella needs to be on a vent too and she needs a band aid" I was informed. So while Lacy went about the task of getting a band aid, I gave EllaBella a trach and put her on a vent... (no small task, really).

My concern is this: for those of you not in the "know", we have night nurses who come to our house to watch Lacy. They get here at 11 pm and leave at 7am. We are required by her the pulmonologist to have said nurses in our home. Just as a second set of eyes. Unfortunately, Lacy does not need nursing. She simply needs respiratory care. While it seems simple enough, many of the nurses have NO IDEA how to run, maintain, or fix any issues that may arise with a vent. This just makes our lives miserable. Most of the time we have some crazy woman in the room next to ours doing nothing all night and we have to get up to check Lacy anyways. (I have fired five in the first three months!) In short, it sucks. That being said, I wonder how tonight's nurse is going to handle two "vents"! Will she get confused? Suction the wrong one?

RIP: A Jersey Mom Blog

Every once in a while I am lucky enough to find a blog that I love and I get irreversibly hooked. One of these blogs was all about a Jersey wife and mom! Through this blog I have watched my cyber pal begin a marriage, move to Jersey with her new husband, buy a house, get a new car, find a job, get preggers, have a BEAUTIFUL baby, and then commit the cyber sin with an outcome that that leaves every blogger shaking on their keyboards (and then subsequently delete her blog from cyber space): she "vented" about a family member only to have them find her blog on a Google search! Oopsie! As a rule, I tend to avoid any major venting in regards to my friends and family (at least online). As another rule, I Google myself from time to time to make sure that my blog is relatively hidden!

She sent me an e-mail this morning explaining why her blog was no longer around! I sat there reading her story with my jaw on the floor! Every sentence I read I thought, "Noooooooooo! Tell me this isn't true!" In fact, half way thorough I had to look away from the screen! In the end, she survived it, and I have to give her props for that! K, my heart goes out to you a million times over! I can't wait to see the new blog. Obviously under an assumed name!

Note: I just Googled myself only to find my blog! So much for rule number two... and I am sure I will break rule number one any day now!

Like I Was Saying...

Disneyland...

Princess Dress...

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The World on a String...

(She found the "L" for Lacy all by herself! Woo Hoo!)

As you can probably guess, we spent another day at Disneyland. This time with my parents! (Randy met up with us after his exam!) My folks arrived at our house at 8am with a box of donuts and See's candy for Lacy. She was in heaven! We promptly packed up the car and headed west for the OC!

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Getting ready for her first time on Big Thunder Mountain!

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Enjoying our "usual" disney meal of Monte Cristo sandwiches and a Mint Julip to drink!

Upon our arrival to the happiest place on earth, Lacy took charge and led us around the park to every attraction she wanted to see. Incidently, she is finally 40 inches tall and able to ride on Big Thunder Mountain, Star Tours, Soaring over California... and other great rides. After lunch, Randy arrived and Lacy announced that we would now be riding the Matterhorn! She jumped between Grammy and Grampy and headed past the castle and towards the snowy mountain ride... dancing and singing the whole way!

Before we could get to our ride, we ran into the Mad Hatter and the Queen of Hearts. Of course this was a PERFECT picture opportunity because Lacy was wearing her Alice in Wonderland dress today! Not unlike every other time at Disneyland, they absolutely fell in love with her. They asked her where she was going and Lacy announced she was on her way to ride the Matterhorn! The Mad Hatter and Queen quickly took Lacy's hand and walked her the ENTIRE way to the ride (past an hour and a half wait) and escorted us to the very front row. We were immediately escorted onto the ride!It was just another amazing experience for all of us. Other kids were running up to them, only to be ignored. Lacy was the center of their universe yet again! What a lucky little girl! By the end of the day, she was just exhausted. This is how I found her in the stroller! (With left-over chocolate on the edges of her mouth!)

I will say it again...

Even with a trach my kid is cuter than most.

We started the official adoption paperwork today. I was told that they traditionally "contract out" the adoption home study and it takes up to 18 months. However, she is new at this and wants to do everything herself, so she is going to do the homestudy and we should be done in closer to six months. Hopefully this will all work out.

Also, I spoke with the Respiratory Care Board of California and they told me we should have word on Randy's license sometime next week. Hot Dog.

Retirement here I come!

Sugar Cookies a la Infidelity

I once worked with a lady who made the most incredible cookies. Seriously. Whenever she brought her cookies to work, the entire plate would be consumed within moments. Especially when I was around! On multiple occasions the recipe was requested, but she never allowed the secret to leave her family's grip. The recipe for both cookies and frosting had been passed down through her husband's family for generations. She was only allowed access to this knowledge post nuptials.

Rumor around work was that her husband was a womanizer. While she allowed herself to remain in the dark in regards to his lack of fidelity, I figured it was only a matter of time.

Our day of enlightenment came not long into the fall of 05. One afternoon she showed up at work completely devastated. She finally had undeniable proof that he was sleeping with another woman.

After the obligatory mourning period (about two hours) I hit her up for the secret family recipe.

She cracked. I have been making these cookies ever since!

Island Princess Barbie

Lacy.

Wearing her Island Princess Barbie dress.

Holding her Island Princess Barbie.

Watching Island Princess Barbie movie.

Imagine what life would be like if adults could do things like this.

Oh. Wait...

Girls Night Out

Lacy and I went to see Hannah Montana tonight. She had such a blast. I was bummed that Randy wasn't really in the mood for this type of thing. However, I suspect Lacy will be dragging him to all sorts of "tween" stuff eventually.