Long Week

Poor baby partied a little too hard last week. Casey did really great all weekend with company in town and her party. On Monday morning we took her to see her pulmonary doctor before Theresa and Larry had to head back to Indiana. She was a little fussy, and the doctor said she sounded a little more congested than normal, but other than that she was doing really well. After her appointment we had lunch with family then said our goodbyes to Theresa and Larry.

A few hours after we got home Casey started getting worked up. She was really junky and crying a lot. She started running a temp. and by Tuesday afternoon I was on the phone with all of her doctors trying to get her medication. She was spiking pretty high fevers and definitely had come down with something. Sadly we could not get in to a doctor until Wednesday. Which of course meant that we spent her birthday in the doctor's office.

The doctor ran all kinds of tests, took xrays, and all that good stuff. After a few hours and a shot of antibiotic we were finally on our way back home. We have 10 days of antibiotics to finish at home. The xray did not show anything, but her blood work and temp made the doctor think she has a pneumonia.

The good news is that we caught it early and got the drugs started up pretty quick. Today she started to perk up a little. She is still really congested, but the fevers are under control. She was able to sit up for a while and watch Nemo this afternoon. We will keep her calm and resting all weekend. With rest and medicine she should be back to causing trouble soon.

Party, Party, Party

Casey had a lot of fun at her party yesterday. We had a really good turn out. Lots of her and our friends were able to come by for at least a little while. Casey really perked up and liked having everyone sing happy birthday to her. The weather was perfect. Many of the kidos hung out in the backyard playing or in Casey's playroom. I think everyone had a good time.

This morning Casey had so many new clothes to pick from. I think it will be months before she goes through them all. Thank goodness too, she was out of clothes. With the weather getting warmer all of the clothes we had were either from last summer and did not fit at all, or were from the winter and just too hot to wear. That is not a problem anymore. She got lots of really cute stuff yesterday. Thank you to everyone.

After the party Casey was so tired. We had some people come by last night to watch UFC with us and Casey crashed before the fights got going. She slept almost all night with out waking at all. Poor little princess just wore herself out partying so hard.

We posted some of the pictures (see the link on Photos) for anyone that wants to see them.

Just 1 more day then PARTY

Casey is getting excited about her party this weekend. Her grandma and uncle got into town today. She got to spend the afternoon cuddling with Grandma. One of her aunts and cousin hopefully get in tomorrow. One of my friends is coming in tomorrow with her 2 little girls. Then everyone else gets in on Saturday (or they already live nearby).

I talked with the cake maker today and she told me that she is making a super cute "Horton Hears a Who" cake just for Casey. I can't wait to see it. Other than picking up the last minute items Saturday morning and decorating that house I think we are all set. We will post party pics as soon after the party as we can.

We have gotten most of Casey's pictures moved over to our new Flickr site. Tim has added a link to her pictures at the bottom of her Photo page. I have been looking at a lot as we moved them over. She has just grown so much. She gets cuter in every picture too :)

Party details to come....

Amazing Kids

Over the past nearly 2 years now I have had the privilege of meeting many amazing children. In some of the hospitals and clinics I have been amazed by children's strength. In addition to the amazing children that amaze me with their fights I have also met many children that amaze me with their generosity and good nature.

As you grow up you often hear people criticizing one superficial thing after another. But with kids, they love and accept everyone so honestly. We have had so many situations where adults have stared and said really dumb things when we are suctioning Casey in public or dealing with what ever. Then minutes later I see a small child coming up to just tell Casey hello or try to hold her hand. These are kids we have never met. I wish there were a way to keep a child's open mind, it is really uplifting to see gestures like these.

That being said, I want to say a very special thank you to Julianna. Some friends that Tim grew up with have a little girl that just had a birthday. She told her mother that instead of gifts this year that she wanted to help Casey. She asked all of her little friends to put money towards helping Casey instead of getting her presents on her special day. Her mother called and asked if it would be okay and told us that it was all Julianna's idea. Amazing.

Party Prep

Casey had a good week. Tim and I both had doctor appointments on Tuesday morning (luckily in the same building) so we all went. Casey was able to visit the doctor and NOT be a patient. She was so funny. My doctor wears scrubs and bent down to talk to Casey. Casey just froze. She was silent, didn't move at all. I think she thought if she didn't call attention to herself no one would know she was there. If the doctor didn't know she was there then she would not mess with her. As soon as my doctor left the room Casey went back to her animated self. She is a silly little girl sometimes :)


My doctor gave me the okay to start doing stuff again. I have been able to pick up Casey and do stuff around the house again. Thank goodness, so much to do before this weekends party. Casey tested out my newly allowed pick up privilege right away. After my appointment we waited in the lobby while Tim saw his doctor. The lobby started to fill up and once it got about as full as it could she had a big stinky poo. She is great at timing those just right. We got cleaned up and back to the lobby just as Tim came in. When we got in the car to go home and she realized she was not going to be a patient she totally relaxed and took a good nap.

One of the many things we had to do before visitors and Casey's party was to get her room all set up. I bought a bed off Craig's List a while back and we had to put a lot of work into it. We had to strip it, sand it then paint it. I love the bed, but it had a lot of details that made the project a big one. I finished paining just before my surgery. We had to order side rails to finish it out. That ended up being a lot more work than expected. the store we ordered from kept messing up and ordering the wrong ones. They finally delivered the correct ones (at half price) Saturday morning. Tim got it all put together today. She went and laid on the bed in her new PJs earlier. She seems to like it. She still sleeps with us so we can hear her for suctioning and stuff, but maybe we can put her in her room for naps and stuff.

I think we have everything all set for this weeks events. Tim's mom and brother get in on Thursday. My sister and her little boy may come in Thursday as well. We don't have an exact day on them yet. My mom and John get in Saturday just in time for the party. It looks like it will be a good party. Most of Casey and our friends will be able to make it. We are doing a Horton theme. I think she will really like it. I was looking back at last year's party pictures. She is SOOOO much bigger. It is amazing how much she has grown over just 1 year.

We have been working on moving photos from our old web site to Flickr so we can then link in to it on her site. Once we get it all set up we will let everyone know. We will link to it from her photo page too. This way anyone that wants to see more photos can.

I think that's about it for now. We will be pretty busy this week, but as soon as we get a chance after the party we will post pictures and details for everyone. We can't wait to see everyone. Casey is very excited too!

Latest Updates

I don't remember much from Wednesday. I know I had surgery and I hear that it went well. Other than that the day is pretty much a blur to me. I am not allowed to lift or strain for at least a week. It is awful not being allowed to pick Casey up. She is so used to being held all the time. She has had a few fussy moments when Tim was busy and could not pick her up for me, but for the most part she has been really good and patient with me. Tim has been great. He is having to do pretty much everything right now. He is pretty tired at the end of the day, but he is getting it all done.

Thursday night one on Megan's friends (Katie) and her little boy (Finn) came by to visit Casey. Finn was really cute. He would whisper "Hello, Casey" to Casey and then go back to his mom's side. He is about 6 months older than Casey. I am sure they will be good friends. He is looking forward to coming back in a few weeks for Casey's party.

On Friday my grandparents and uncle Cliff came by. Casey loves visitors. My grandparents had to get back before rush hour traffic, but my uncle stayed over before heading to the air port this morning. Casey was really good the entire time he was here. This was his first chance to meet Casey.

I have been recovering pretty well. The surgery area is not bad at all. It is about like my last surgery (appendix). This time I have had a little more trouble than last. Every time I eat I have been getting horribly sick to my stomach. Today is the first day that it is manageable. I still feel sick, but it is a tolerable sick now. It sounds like things were pretty messed up inside, so I am sure the next few months will be rough as things readjust and settle into their correct spots. I go back to the doctor on Thursday. I am hoping that she will see how well I am doing and that after the visit I can start picking Casey back up again. For now Tim will just have to put Casey next to me.

Marty home from surgery

Just to let everyone know that Marty is home from surgery and is recovering quickly, as usual. I spoke with the doctor and everything went smoothly. The adhesion scars between the uterus and bowel were quite large at the site where the rupture occurred when Casey was born, so this seems to be what has been causing most of her discomfort the last couple years. That's all for now - thanks for everyone's wishes!

Houston and more

Casey had a hard week last week. She wasn't feeling well off and on for most of the week. We had to cancel a lot of her therapies. She seemed to be a little better on Friday so we kept our ortho appointment in Houston.

We had a pretty good trip out. Casey did really well. We got to the clinic a little early and my mom (Cappy) met us there. We were able to hang out a little while we waited. They were pretty much on schedule which was nice. We met with the doctor and he didn't have much to say. He was nice, but he seemed a little disconnected. I don't really even know how to explain it. He listened to what we had to say and he seemed to be knowledgeable. It just seemed like he was somewhere else.

He wants to see Casey every 6 months, unless something else comes up. I think between now and the next appointment we are going to try out some of the Austin orthos. It was just hard to justify driving all that way for a doctor that we just weren't crazy about. We had such high expectations too. The LA ortho that suggested him we loved so much and I think we wanted someone that was going to be just like him. I don't really know what else I can say. It was nice to visit with my mom, but I just don't think it was worth the drive.

Casey had had enough of the car by the time we headed back home. She cried most of the way back to Austin. It made for a VERY long day. After we got her situated back home she crashed and slept for about 12 hours straight. She was wiped out.


She seemed better on Saturday, but she was pretty fussy and worked up again on Sunday. Tim was presenting to a group of my grandparents friends at their church on Monday. We had hoped to all go, but we decided to keep Casey home since she had such a hard week. Tim went and had a nice time. He was talking to the group about his job and travels to India. Afterward he had lunch with my grandparents and uncle then came back home.



I had to do all my labs today for tomorrows surgery. I had to finish all of my chores around the house too. I am not sure how long it will be before I am back to being able to get stuff done. With Casey's party coming up there is so much to do. I think I got enough done to feel good about things. Poor Tim will have his hands full for the next few weeks. Hopefully I will not be down long.



We have ordered the cake and some decorations for the party. We are doing a 'Horton Hears a Who' party this year. I am really looking forward to seeing everyone.

Tim will post something tomorrow when I am out of surgery. My procedure is scheduled for 10:15, so he should hear something by lunch. Depending on how busy he is with Casey he may be able to post by mid afternoon. I am a little sad, but I know it just has to be done.