Family

We spent the day at Mom and Dad's today.  The second Saturday of each month, we all gather there for that month's birthday celebrations.  This month we had 2 - Isaac (9) and Jordan (6).   I think the kids probably all feel that Grandma and Grandpa's house is the next best thing to Heaven.  There is plenty of good food, always cake and ice cream, of course, and lots and lots of playing together.  Coming from a big family (1 boy and 5 girls) and then all of us having kids, some of us having LOTS of kids, is such a blessing.  We love to be with each other - spend our day at Mom and Dad's laughing, talking and eating.  What could be better?

 I got to hold Jennifer's littlest, Alissa (10 weeks) for a while - and it was even fun to change her diaper.  We all caravan-ed over to see Heather and Ron's progress on their new house.  We took turns pushing little swingers, watching the girls play dress up with Mom's ample dress up bin supply, the boys playing with swords, a majority of the big kids playing "capture the flag", built elaborate train tracks, talked about important things, read stories, told stories, and then the piece de resistance was watching Glenn and Mick and Dad take out a toilet and try to put a new one in.

 The kids were in the basement under the bathroom area.  They gathered several blue plastic chairs, and carefully placed them in an arch around the area where all the "excitement" was happening.  They had a front row seat to the whole (or the hole) show.  Glenn, Mick, and Dad took turns going to and from the basement to the bathroom where the exchange was happening.   I went down once to change a load of laundry and found about 6 or 7  kids sitting literally on the edge of their seats gazing fixedly up at the ceiling, where several large square sections of ceiling panels had been removed to provide easy access and visibility for the "plumbers".  There was alot of sawing, drilling, and general tearing away of pretty disgusting and malodorous parts.  It was great fun for all of us when Glenn lugged the old toilet out to the backyard and set it down in the grass.  Talk about convenience!

Since the back part of the new toilet was cracked, Dad and Mick and Glenn took off for a second trip to Lowe's.  Colleen and I decided to bring the littlest ones home at that point.  (it was 10:00 pm).  So she and I piled the youngest 7 into her van and she drove me and mine here.  We had such a wonderful time chatting on the way home.  I love my sisters .... and my brother!

Sophia has been doing pretty well.  She's been more wheezy-sounding lately - I'm not sure why.  I don't know if it's just more symptoms of the ongoing changes inside surrounding her breathing, or if she's coming down with something.  She complained of a sore throat last night, but it was better today.  She looks so pale to me.  But she continues to want to play and behave pretty much as she always has.  I just try to keep her from participating in any play that involves running.  She doesn't seem to mind.

She's supposed to have a sleep study on November 1, here in Indianapolis, but I think we're going to need to change the date.  We will talk to her pulmonologist to see what she thinks.  It will be so close to the surgery that I don't think we're going to have optimal conditions for studying her breathing patterns during sleep.

Speaking of sleep..... :)



Thank you for praying for Sophia.