Adyson's surgery - Counting down - 6 days

I had my last Bradley class that I needed to teach before Adyson's surgery last night. I am taking 2 weeks off from teaching classes. It is really getting close now, and I am getting very anxious and nervous. So far the kids seem to be well except for a little runny nose. Adyson has a runny nose too but mostly it's clear. I am praying it doesn't turn into anything more.

Caleb has a 1/2 day today and all the kids are off on Monday. This actually works out because if they are not sick now then if we keep them in we may be able to ward off Ady getting sick. Kathi arrives tomorrow, and I am trying to catch up on laundry and housework today.

I will be bringing my laptop with me to the hospital and my understanding is that they have wireless so I should be able to update everyone while I am there. I have packed my camera and other things and hope to journal the experience.

Adyson's surgery - Counting down - 9 days

Yesterday I took Adyson to the doctors to check her ears and chest. She has been pulling on them and has been congested. Normally I would not have taken her in and would have seen if it turned into anything but with her surgery around the corner I am supposed to bring her in for almost anything. The doctor says her ears look clear and everything looks great. He says to keep an eye on her because the congestion could turn into something more.

She is getting her top 2 teeth in and I think that is what is causing a lot of the running nose. I also think she has a little cold. She is getting around a lot now. Crawling everywhere, pulling up and walking with a walker!

I went shopping as well to get some of the things needed for her surgery and when she comes home. She is supposed to have the button down pajamas to wear. Normally that is what I have but for some reason all I have for the age she is wearing is the 2 piece pajama sets. So needless to say I had to get some. I am not used to paying store prices, even at 1/2 off it was triple what I normally spend on pajamas. (Gotta love those consignment sales!)

Today I am trying to catch up on things like my blog, cleaning (I have my class tonight), and slowly packing things for Adyson.

I am starting to feel anxious and nervous. Not only for the surgery itself but just keeping her well till then and having everything ready in time. Grandma Kathi comes Saturday, which will help a lot with keeping the house and laundry up (Kathi is the laundry queen!). Starting Monday we have doctor apointments almost everyday till her surgery. I am going to be a wreck!

Happy Birthday Caleb - 7 Years Old!

Caleb's birthday was on February 5th. He turned 7 years old this year! Time sure does go by fast. We have a new rule with birthdays - big birthday parties only every 4 years. Caleb's next big birthday party year will be when he turns 8. Eight is a big year in many ways, including him getting baptized. I can't beleive that is only a year away.

For his birthday this year I surprised him at school with cupcakes for his class and goody bags. He was dissapointed earlier that morning when I told him I could not come for his lunch. He had no idea and was shocked when he walked in from lunch and there we were. I had balloons on his desk and cupcakes and juice on everyones desk. The kids had fun also.

Caleb was allowed to have a friend spend the night on Friday, he chose Cole, his best friend. Saturday my dad, Lisa, Chris and Aimee, and Grandma Mary came out to take Caleb out to lunch and have cake to celebrate. While they were out dad and I gave our direct blood donations for Adyson's surgery. I don't think dad ate enough before hand because he almost past out. It was funny (of course after he was better). Grandma took us to Sho Guns, a Japanese restaurant that cooks in front of you. Thanks Grandma! It was lots of fun. Elijah ran out of the room everytime there was a big fire. Afterwards, we all went back to our house to open presents and have cake. I think Caleb had a wonderful birthday and was shown how much he is loved.

Caleb's accomplishments as a 6 year old:

• He started first grade and is top in his class
• He is now reading at a 3rd grade level
• homework is waaay to easy for him
• he now enjoys real skateboarding after getting Tony Hawk skateboarding game for the DS for xmas
• He is waaay to good at playing video games
• He loves to read - just finished ready Tom Sawyer
• He has never gotten in trouble at school and is one of the best students
• Although Adyson loves all her siblings - Caleb is the one who really makes her light up (that's her buddy) - Caleb also adores her and wants to hold her all the time.
• He loves legos and building with them.
• He is very passionate about everything and reacts emotionally to most things
• He is very intelligent, kind, loves kids, is best friends with his brother Elijah, and the most wonderful son. (How did I get so lucky!)

Blood Drive for Adyson

With Adyson's surgery around the corner, I am starting to make sure things are in order. It has been and will be a busy month. Tuesday I contacted Blood Assurance regarding the blood donations Adyson would need for her surgery.

There are two types, the direct donation which is someone donating their blood that will go directly to Adyson specifically and needs to be a type that she can use. We have taken care of that here, I am donating, my dad is donating, and we have one more person. We only need 3 units for her.


There is also another type of way to donate towards Adyson surgery. They called it a replacement donation where someone would donate their blood and it would not specifically go to Adyson but Blood Assurance will donate $10 toward the family to help out with the financial burderns of her surgery. For someone to help out in that way they would need Adyson's file # and information. So when they went in to donate they would say it was for a replacement donation for Adyson. If anyone would like to do that, you can do that from any Blood Assurance location that takes blood, the information you need is as follows:





Adyson Doolittle

#536261


Surgery date is February 19, 2009

(For anyone that is not local then you would need to contact your local blood bank and ask if they have a similiar program. If not, you can always just donate in honor of Adyson which we would also greatly appreciate.)

Blood Assurance said that for as long as wanted could donate toward her surgery so if you wanted to donate for her but maybe need to wait awhile it does not have to be done before her surgery, it can be anytime. I don't know if you need all of the information above but I know at the very least you need her #.


Our family just seems to have the lucky streak of medical burdens. We feel fortunate that we have been taken care greatly from the medical communites from Santa Barbara, CA with Ben's cancer and surgeries, to here in Chattanooga with Adyson's condition. We are where we need to be as people from all over the country come here to chattanooga to have the type of surgery Adyson is having using these skilled doctors specializing in her type of surgery, Dr. Sargent, and Dr. Strait, among the other pediatric specialist and pediatric anesthesiologist. She will be having her surgery at the children's hospital, TC Thompson, which specializes in children.

I want to add how thankful I am to have a Heavenly Father who knows our present circumstance as well as what future needs we will need and I know if we trust in Him and follow Him we will be taken care of. Thanks to our family who has been ready to jump in and help in any way they can. Kathi is arriving the 14 of Feb and is staying 2 weeks! My mom is trying to make it out after that.


Thank you to all of you who have her in your prayers and ask that you continue to do so. We are grateful for everyones suppport.

If you would like to read about the specifics of her information you can refer to my previous blog I wrote a few months back. Here is the link:

http://allaboutthebenjaminsbabies.blogspot.com/2008/06/some-bad-news.html

Our Growing Ady!

I can't believe Adyson is already 8 1/2 months old! She is standing (sometimes falls), eating finger foods, has been sitting up and now is almost crawling. She gets in the crawl position and will go backwards, sometimes reaches forward then sits back up. She is diffently getting around. We put up the stair gate to only have Elijah break it. I have order the parts and will be fixed soon, which we now badly need it. I couldn't decided which pictures were cuter so I decided to post them all! She is saying dada a lot and gibbering. She pointed to daddy's nose when we asked "where's daddy's nose?", and she sounded like she said "sippy" when I was pointing to the sippy cup, but maybe I am just hearing all of that. The kids are enjoying her but will yell "mom come get Ady she is getting my toys!", it is all just beginning...

Thinking back . . . December

Well, as you all know I am veeerrrry behind. I have been very busy, and when I do have time I just don't feel like getting on here and downloading and writing. Sorry to all my family and friends. So here is an attempt at catching up and hopefully keeping up.

Most of you know that Adyson's surgery is coming up and the is what has motivated me to start blogging again. I started thinking about how much I will appreciate journaling my experience with this trial we are going to have to go through.

Now I have to think back to December and remember what all happenend. I can't even remember what I did yesterday. We will start with pictures and I will tell you what I remember.

Loryn and Elijah had a christmas program at their preschool. Loryn wanted her hair curly, so we did what we could to curl it and hope for it to stay. Her hair is so straight, no curl stays in it. We attempted and it did curl better than a curling iron. What matters is she was so beautiful and Elijah was a handsome little fellow. They did their parts well, and was very excited to see Santa. Their favorite part, I believe was the cookies that they served afterward.

Decorating for Christmas is always lots of fun with the kids. Loryn was a big help this year...

We went to Grandma Mary's house in Cartersville Christmas week when the kids were out of school. Grandma Ladnier, my mom, and Bob, my mom's husband came out to visit for christmas. It was so nice to see all of them. So we went out for the day and just enjoyed each other's company.

Chris, my brother, is living downstairs for a little while till he is done with school in May.

Grandma Ladnier and Adyson.

Bob and chris.

It was Grandma Ladnier's birthday, so I made her a cheesecake poundcake with her yummy fudge icing.

Chris, Aimee, and Grandma Mary.

Christmas Eve my mom and Bob, Lisa Hunter, my mom's friend from NC, and Bob came to our house for dinner and a christmas play the kids put on. It was a lovely night, we all had a good time. Then for Christmas morning Ben, me and the kids drove down to Grandmas and celebrated the day with everybody, spent the night and went home on Friday.

Pictures at Grandma's

I know it has been awhile and I have finally decided to just jump in again and maybe as I remember things that have happened in the last few months I can reflect and slowly catch you all up on our lives. It has been a little bit difficult keeping up on things and lots has happened. I will give you a sneak peak: sal manila poisoning, ER visits, stitches, Grandfather passing, trip to NC, Teaching classes, Adyson sitting up, eating foods,... So blogging has been last on my list. Sorry.

We went to my Grandmother's house yesterday who is now living in Cartersville, GA after the passing of my grandfather Ralph. We miss him greatly. However, we are very excited to have grandma Mary close by, only about an hours drive for us. The kids love it and we always feel at home. So while we were there I decided to take advantage of her beautiful views of the lake and get some family pictures done. So here they are: