My Girls are Better

ALL smiles!



Both of the girls are back to health. I am still waiting for the culture results, but Reagan is seemingly back to normal! Pressing forward with our day, and just wanted to let you know our health as been restored...well for today!

Sick Girls

Whitney and Reagan have both been sick this weekend. Whitney started late Saturday night and Reagan started on Sunday. Dr. Packwood has treated Whitney and I took Reagan in yesterday to learn that what she has is probably viral (sigh). So, she has been miserable with fever and crabbiness since Sunday night. She is on Tylenol and Motrin to make her comfortable. We did send off a culture yesterday to see if it would grow anything. She is not being her easy independent self. She wants to be held ALL the time. Whitney feels GREAT and went back to school today. Hopefully Reagan will get better soon. I am exhausted!!!!

Libby got to come home!

Libby came home yesterday afternoon. She was all smiles when I saw her today. She does have that rash that some people get with Strep. They don't have the blood results back to confirm that is was for sure Strep. They should know today or tomorrow.

Baseball Game

We got to got to a Ranger game tonight. My friend and college roommate, Michelle's son had the honor of throwing out the first pitch. My kids adore him, so they were really excited about going to see him on the mound! He did awesome...he did the whole leg in the air thing and everything. VERY CUTE.
Bad game experiences:
*A grouchy lady was sitting in front of Whitney and she "barked" at her when she ONE time accidentally kicked her chair!!!
*A man spilled his beer on Savannah as he was climbing over us.
*Blayne asked when we were going home before the first batter was out of the batter's box!!!!


Other than that, it was a GREAT time. We love to go to things like that as a family. Reagan stayed home with a sitter. She would not have been fun at the game.

So, it has been a long stressful (because of Reagan--see below) day. But I am grateful.

Libby is scheduled to come home tomorrow...Gracie sounds bit uneasy, as they are not for sure what is going on.....arghhhh.

Teddy Bear Picnic

Here are pictures from the Teddy Bear Picnic. The food was all teddy bear and the kids did a scavenger hunt and then just played outside in this wonderful weather!

Reagan took off about TEN years of my life today!!!

For those of you that comment on my gray hair form time to time, you need to know WHY I have it!!!!
Today, I had one of my nightmares flash before my eyes! We had a busy morning...me at a bridal shower, John at home with the kids. I came home grabbed all four kids and whisked about to my in-law's home for a Teddy Bear Picnic with all of the cousins that my mother-in-law has planned. We got there and Whitney realized that she didn't have her jacket. I got everyone out of the car, and the kids headed toward the backyard where my two sisters-in-law and my mother-in-law were with all of the cousins. Reagan was walking RIGHT with Savannah. I thought that I might have a random jacket in the back of the car, so I turned to look to see if I could find something for Whitney. I was also getting the diaper bag and other items out of the car. I turned to see Savannah talking to her cousin, but I didn't see Reagan. I assumed that she was right there with the other adults and kids. I couldn't find my keys, but I decided to walk away from the car and look for Reagan real quick and then get back to my key/jacket search! As I rounded the corner of the house, I found that ALL of the cousins were there, EXCEPT for Reagan. I felt a small panic, but I thought that I would find her quickly, so I shouldn't freak out. I walked ALL the way around the house and I couldn't find her. THEN, I was standing at the corner of the house and I saw her HUGE pink bow across the street!!!!! My baby had crossed the street....I began to SPRINT across the yard when I noticed a car coming, FLYING, down the street...the panic set in. Reagan was only feet from the street. (on the other side) I started screaming "Oh, no, oh no!!!" I was screaming "Stop!!!" I think that was intended both for Reagan AND the speeding car. The car slowed down some, and came to a complete stop when it caught a glimpse of the maniac woman running and screaming. They didn't speak to me and drove off after I ran out in front of them and swooped up my laughing Reagan...I am sure that it was hilarious seeing me running and screaming down the the hill and then catching up with her and flinging her into my arms. My sister-in-law, Cheryl, had come around the corner of the house as I was screaming and reaching the street. She was yelling and later told me she thinks she cussed when she saw what was happening!!!! She was yelling just like me. It was a very helpless feeling. Thank you Lord for protecting my baby....and for having my sweet sensitive Savannah in the backyard as this had all played out. She would have felt sooo guilty if she thought that Reagan's wondering off was her fault. I hadn't asked her to keep up with Reagan. My in-law's don't have fences and I guess nobody saw her get away. I am so thankful that the Lord protected our baby girl from an unthinkable accident. We live and learn in these things. Reagan spent most of the picnic time STRAPPED into a booster seat and into the baby swings. I have been in knots all day. It keeps playing through my mind. I wanted to included a couple of pictures to show you a prospective of where she was....my heart is racing as I type just thinking about this.

These two pictures of her enjoying swinging after the trauma that she put me through. I could barely breathe I was so freaked out.


Below is a picture of where I saw Reagan. She was ACROSS that street about three feet into the grass. (Obviously Reagan is right with me when I took this picture AFTER the incident)



This is about where I took off running from.....I could not get there fast enough!!!!

Libby Update

I got a partial txt message from Gracie tonight. She "sounded" down. I know that she is stressing over all of this. I am sad about the speech. I was the one that mentioned her "strange" speech a week of so ago. It just wasn't right, and my gut was Stroke, but I couldn't say that, I just said that she was talking weird. Who am I to say??? It just wasn't 'right' when she was talking to me, especially when she was saying "Mrs. Stonecipher".

Pray for me that I will know how to be helpful during this hospital stay. I want to be helpful and not in the way!

Headed to bed with a heavy heart.....

Libby has had a stable but difficult day. Blood and urine culture have not grown anything. She has felt pretty bad with lots of wretching that I'm sure would be vomiting if she could. Motrin seems to help with the "feel bads" and Zofran helped the wretching.

She had an echo that was unchanged from December. The cardiologists doubt that this is a return of her chest infection from October. We hope they are right.

I (and a good friend) have noticed that Libby's speech seemed different, but I was having a hard time putting my finger on it, and it has been intermittent. Today, I realized that her speech is slurred. Because of that and a history of sinus infections without much runny nose, they did a CT of her head and sinuses. There appears to be "sinus disease" on one side, but likely not enough to explain her current symptoms/labs. It does appear that she may have had a small stroke "remotely", or a while ago, but that is all I know for now. We will hopefully get more info tomorrow. She is at risk for strokes given her heart anatomy.

The last piece of information we got is that Mason (our 7 year old) complained that his throat hurt, and he developed a low grade fever. His strep test turned positive immediately, so we are hopeful that maybe Libby has also had strep. It would be a great diagnosis compared to the other things it could be!! They sent labs to evalute that this evening.

Thanks as always for loving us and checking on us. We are of course concerned, and tired, and leary of repeating last October. Please continue to pray for wisdom and discernment for the doctors, and peace for us, especially the boys. This morning I called Mason before he left for school and he said "Here we go again! Two months in the hospital!" While we all hope and pray not, we know that we can handle what comes because God gives us strength!

Love, Gracie