Thursday, April 30, 2009

Yes! It's ok to sing at the table and other ramblings from Casa de Jones!!

It really, really is!! And ya know what.....we sang the "Diego" song at breakfast this morning....and we sang it LOUD, LONG AND STRONG!!! We might even do it at lunch too!!! :-) Well, partly because the SWINE FLU closed the THREE school systems in our county of 2 PROBABLE cases.....siiiigh. You do what you have to in order to get through 2 days of NO daycare!!! :-)
Soooo.........things have been a little crazy at Casa de Jones lately!!! I mean, C!R!A!Z!Y! Research paper and a history project for AJ. End of school year. Planning some summer trips. Figuring out how to phase Sydney into part time daycare for her sanity and mine. Wanting to PURGE this house but not knowing where to start, so we cut back some bushes and stuff in the yard. You get the drift.
AJ had baseball tryouts this week and will be playing for the Monrovia Diamondbacks. I can't believe my BABY is playing Babe Ruth baseball. Siiigh......and what makes it even worse is that I am filling out his HIGH SCHOOL scheduling forms after I finish this blog update. We go back to the orthodontist in May to find out when the braces come off. We're looking at late July/early August. Thank goodness!!! Where does the time go? My sweet baby will 14 in July.
A few weeks ago, Alan and I decided that Luke's behavior, sleep, etc just had to be discussed with our ped. Talked to him and he agreed that he needed to see an ENT. Called the ENT, got in to see him on April 28. Doc says his tonsils are DEFINITELY too big and they need to come out. They are causing Apnea, restlessness and a ton of other stuff. While he's in, he'll also take out his adnoids and evaluate for tubes. Luke had LOTS of ear infections as a baby and the doc says there's lots of build-up we can't get to down by the eardrum. So, out it all comes and the tubes may go in.......we'll update that on Monday after the surgery! Glad that we have an ENT that doesn't wait around!!!
Sydney's language has just blossomed. She's quite the little parrot!! Uhm, that means I need to be more careful, huh? She's all over the place and will begin a new stage in her life next week. We'll start her in daycare. She needs the socialization and needs to know that others are able to help her but that Mommy will ALWAYS come back for her!! Her attachment is FINE, so ya'll don't worry yourselves over that. I tell Alan that she's so close to me that if I sneezed she'd come flying out my nose!!!! Our sweet princess is turning out to be QUITE THE DRAMA QUEEN though!! Help us all!!!
As if that isn't enough, I took a pretty nasty fall on Sunday night. Typically, our dogs sleep in the garage, even in the summer but the other night it was so nice out we decided to let them stay out. Well, after being woke up several times by our Lab's barking, I decided this wasn't going to work. The pups were going in the garage. Our Lucy puppy went straight in. Joise, not so much. I finally coaxed her to to the backdoor area and just as we were about to come in the house, she decided she wasn't going in. Josie jumped around, tangled up in my feet and took them out from under me. As a result I went down into the metal porch swing. I whacked my head, sternum, arm/hand and knee. I went out for a minute and ended up with a tennis ball sized goose egg on my noggin!! YEEEEOUCH!!! Have a pretty good knot on my arm that hurt when someone even glanced at it. Let's not forget the layer of skin that got left on the patio from my knee!!!
Well, the next morning, my head was ok. It hurt but it was managable. My arm, WOW, it hurt!!! By Tuesday, the swelling had NOT gone down at all, so I made an appointment at the Ortho Center to get it looked at on Wednesday. Fortunately, it wasn't broken just have severe soft tissue damage and a bruised nerve. Also found out that some point I broke my hand between my ring/pinky fingers at the hand knuckle. The doc asked me when I did it and I told him I had no idea that it had ever been broken. He showed me the xray and sure enough, there was a calcification there. Have no idea when it happened.....I'm not terribly co-ordinated so there's no telling!! Anywho, I'm in a brace for 3 weeks and go back for a recheck in 2 weeks. It's a pain but I'll take the brace over a CAST any day!!!
That's it for now.....hopefully, we're back on track after a little break.

Sunday, April 26, 2009

BoReD wItH BlOgGiNg............

So tired of reporting the same old stuff. I still have not finished Disney pics, Luke's b'day and some random other pics. Sad huh? My get up and go to blog, just isn't there right now.....any suggestions to get my rhythym again??


Saturday, April 18, 2009

I think it's time for a TODDLER BED!!!

I don't wanna do it but I might have to!!! Sydney's "new thing"(in the past few weeks) is upon waking, she begins SCREAMING AND HOLLERING for me to come get her. Over and over and over till someone comes in. Now, while she's doing this, she laying all snuggly under her covers still just playing with her lovies and chilling. She's not mad, she's not scared, she's not anything but ready to get up!!
Here's the problem - she's waking up Luke!!! Waking up Luke before he's ready to get up is SO NOT A GOOD THING!!! Fortunately, he stumbled into our room(crying) this morning and got up in the bed with Alan. Fell back to sleep. He's been out for a good hour again. I, on the other hand, have been used as a jungle gym for the past hour. And she has no concept of "inside voice" yet. It's beginning to get really old, really fast!!!


Tuesday, April 14, 2009

EASTER 2009

What a beautiful day for such a celebration of Christ's sacrifice for us!!!
We had a wonderful day at church with Zach preaching the importance of salvation.....many came forward to be saved or rededicate their lives to Him!!
After church, we had a wonderful time of fellowship with my best friend and her family along with my Mom and Dad!! It was REALLY great!!! Here is a video montage of our day:

Friday, April 10, 2009

Doing my part to "SaVe the TaTa's"!!!

Ok, I went for annual physical today and everything checked out great.......
HOWEVER;
Now that I've hit the big "35", I get to go to the "BOOB MASHER"!!!!
SOOOOO,
My FIRST mamo is scheduled for next Thursday April 16 @12:15pm.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

You know you don't feel well when.....

You go check the washer that's running and you've run a full cycle of ABSOLUTELY nothing. Added water and detergent --- but no clothes!!! Not a single piece of anything.....siiiiigh!! And now I'm out of dryer sheets!! Good thing a load of nothing doesn't need any!!! I need to go to bed!!



Friday, April 3, 2009

AN AMAAAAAZING *DEANA* UPDATE!!!

At about 6pm this evening, as Deana and I were both catching a cat nap, a familiar face appeared in the room -- one we weren't expecting until Tuesday or Wednesday of next week: Dr. Rodriquez, Deana's oncologist. To say the least, we were surprised.

Dr. Rodriguez had some VERY GOOD NEWS to share with us. The bone marrow biopsy performed yesterday showed absolutely no Burkitt's lymphoma cells. The doctor explained we have an aggressive schedule ahead, and as soon as the CMV treatment is complete or near-complete, Deana will begin a single-drug regimen of Methotrexate. The doctor explained that our goal is to get the Burkitt's to a near non-existent state to facilitate a bone marrow transplant. That is a way's off, but she was very frank about the multiple steps and Deana's candidacy for either bone marrow or cord stem cell (experimental) transplantation. On Monday, the doctors will have a comprehensive schedule. Until then, Deana will have a quiet weekend.
I will fly home Sunday most likely to get our boyz. There isn't much time before Deana resumes chemo. We're so excited!

I took Deana downstairs for a hot chocolate to celebrate and we're now just minutes away from videoconferencing with our Zboyz (Skype). We haven't seen their beautiful faces in over a month.

Thank you, thank you, thank you all for your prayers. God is listening and we feel your love. Please give your loved ones big hugs, and an extra one from us. Have a wonderful weekend. We will!



Love,
Jack and Deana



Thursday, April 2, 2009

A conversation about dinner with Luke

So, we're driving home from daycare today and I ask....


"What would you like for dinner? Spaghetti!!"


Luke: "Oh yeah!! I love that!!!"


Me: "Alright, spaghetti it is."


Luke: "But wait, Momma, are you going to put hamburgers in it? I love hamburgers in it!!"


Me: "Yes, Luke, we'll have hamburger meat in it."


Luke: "Oh good, Momma.... I LOVE hamburgers in my spaghetti!!!"




Wednesday, April 1, 2009

HaPpY bIRtHdAy LuKe!!!

Where does the time go? This time 4 years ago, I was working at Harvest Elementary School, going about my daily tasks. The students were trying to play April Fool's jokes!! It was a nice day and oddly enough, I actually remember ALOT about it!!!!






I had no idea that while all this was going on, a young woman I would never meet was giving birth to my son.....in a country I had never really given much thought to......that would result in adopting internationally instead of domestically. A country and a people that are now occupying a HUGE place in my heart!




Luke, we learned about you when you were 3 weeks old. You came to us in the form of a picture ..... a picture of a CHUBBY CHEEKED, 8.5lb baby!! That's one big boy in Guate!! You stole my heart with that picture and I knew that God had destined you to be my son!!!





Here we are 4 years later and you are a rough, tough, spirited, smart, hysterically funny little boy!!! Even when you are making me crazy, you are my Sweetie Punkin' and I love you bunches!!!





HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!!!