To All My Friends

True Friendship

Are you tired of those sissy "friendship" poems
that always sound good, but never actually come close to
reality? Well, here is a series of promises that actually speak of
true friendship:

1. When you are sad -- I will help you get drunk and
plot revenge against the sorry bastard who made you
sad.

2. When you are blue -- I will try to dislodge
whatever is choking you.

3. When you smile -- I will know you finally got
laid.

4 When you are scared -- I will try to calm your
nerves, unless it is something silly then I will rag on you
about it every chance I get.

5. When you are worried -- I will tell you horrible
stories about how much worse it could be until you
quit whining.

6 When you are confused I will use little words.

7. When you are sick -- Stay the hell away from me
until you are well again. I don't want whatever you
have.

8. When you fall -- I will point and laugh at your
clumsy ass, but then I will help you get up.

9. This is my oath..... I pledge it to the end.
"Why?" you may ask; "because you are my friend".

***Smooches****

*This was forwarded to me by a friend, I didn't write it. I wish I was this clever!
** No we still have not found our dog. We call the pound every day, posted flyers and put in ad in our local paper. If something awful had happened our animal control officer assured me that they call if the dog has ID tags, which she does. As well as a micro chip.

Tales from a Lazy Blogger

Sorry. I actually have stuff to post but I am lazy. I have Christmas stuff all over the house. I still need to put up one more tree, and I’m not sure if out Christmas village will make it out of boxes this year. It is a pain to take all the houses out and arrange the village with the snow blah blah blah. I am sure Hannah will guilt me in to putting it up by Sunday.

Here is what we have been up to:

Sophie the day of her clinic appointment in Cincy. Her t-shirt says "All hands on the poop deck" It was a big hit with her doctors!


Here is a picture of Ben in the ER on Thanksgiving day. His poison ivy was so bad that he will be on steroids for 14 days. Did I mention that steroids can make someone a little hostile??? Mix that with a 7th grade attitude and Ben will be lucky to make it to his 14th day of his medication!


On Sunday night Hannah and I went to the Hannah Montana concert. It really was nice to see all the moms with their girls. We had good seats and the show was pretty good. Hannah enjoyed herself and we met up with some friends for dinner after the show.

Hannah with E, M, and M for their GNO


Hannah ready for the show to start




*for those of you who like Tracy really want to see Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers, most places hold back tickets and you can buy them the day of the show. They aren't the best seats. We saw a friend of Hannah's at the show and they got their tickets that day. It is worth a try.**

We have been busy and I am soooo glad to be home. It looks like Sophie will need one more surgery, and that will be done locally. We meet with the surgeon next week and will hear what he has to say. I also go back to work on Monday. I am not sure how I am going to do this, but I guess we will figure it out. Chris will be bringing Sophie to daycare and I will be picking her up each day. We found a developmental center where the students are a mix of typically developing kiddos and kids with special needs. They will screen Sophie in PT, OT and Speech and all those services are there if she needs them.

On another note a friend just found out she has a brain tumor. Please pray for her and her family.

TBG Update

Sophie and I got home safe and sound on Thanksgiving day. Believe it or not it was one of the easiest travel days I ever experienced! Chris and Hannah greeted us as we got off the plane.....Ben was sleeping in the car. Sleeping??? Yes not only has my eldest child dislocated his elbow this week, he seems to have a gotten himself tangled in some poison ivy. I took one look at my handsome sons swollen face, half opened eye and scalded cheeks and told Chris he was going to need to drop us off at the emergency room. No urgent care offices were open because of the holiday. I took a picture of Ben but he asked me not to post it.....it really is horrible. Thank goodness our wait was short at the emergency room, only an hour and a half. We saw the doctor and after she gasped she promptly wrote a script for steriods and made me promise that we would do the 14 days that she prescribed. It already is looking better, he is still a little swollen, but nothing close to what he looked like the other day. Poor kid.

Hannah was happy to see us and I think she may have even grown while we were in Cincy. She and Sophie are getting to know eachother all over again. Sophie walked in to the house on Thursday and started dancing she was so happy to be home! Too cute!

No new dog news. She has a collar and a microchip. I am placing an ad in our local newspaper and we are posting lost posters at the vets, and pet stores in town.

Much To Be Thankful For.....

• Thankful for my great husband and 3 kids!

• For Dr.Levitt and Dr.Pena of the Cincinnati Childrens hospital.

• For Krista….

• My bloggy friendsl who sent great cards and emails and who made special trips to visit Sophie and I in the hospital.

• Sophie’s birth parents, and caretakers in China including her foster parents. She is a blessing.


• To all of those who support the Ronald McDonald House in Cincinnati…and other RMH's across the country.

• My sister, although we beat the crap out of each other most of our childhood

• My friends at home who helped Chris out while I was gone.

Cuz This Is How We Roll......

Just a quick post. Sophie is doing great, we have a doctors appointment tomorrow. I have a fun update post with pics that I will get up when we get home....promise.

Have you ever had the feeling that something was just not right...you can't get anyone on the phone back home. Not even you son who always has his phone, or your husband with his new jazzy i-phone. Hmmm my momma meter was off the charts. Something was not right. Seems that I was correct. Ben went to the emergency room today with a dislocated elbow. I don't know the details yet, I am sure Chris will share them with me after he has a beer or two. I spoke with my father in law and he told me someone called 911 because Ben got hurt.....I called the emergency room and they connected me to Ben's room. I could hear my son. He was not happy, he was in obvious pain. They are putting in an IV with pain meds and will put his elbow back where it belongs. Oh yea I forgot to mention one of our dogs ran away......

Just Some Pictures

Playing at the Cincy Kids Museum


Cleaning up the night before surgery.


Balloons from my Cousins Lillie and Helen and from my friend Kaylee


Surgery day


Playing with my Daddy

The Best Friday Ever!

Flowers sent today.

Hmmm....you don't think I know what day of the week it is do you??? Has the stress and the hospital stay gotten the best of me???? No of course not my good friend! The best Friday ever was 14 years ago when I married the BEST man in the world. Happy anniversary to my wonderful husband! Thanks for loving me and putting up with my crap:)

Well She Took Care of That!

Just a quick post and I am off to try to get some rest. Sophie is doing much better today. Yesterday was tough. She was pretty pissed off about the IV in her hand and pulled it out! Yep blood every where, poor Chris was holding her. I knew she was going to do that... Anyway around dinner time her medication change started to kick in and we all had a pretty good night sleep. She walked around a little today, waving at people and holding on to her balloon from her buddy Kaylee. Chris leaves tomorrow. I am dreading that, it will be hard to be here for such a long time without him. I have made sure that a volunteer will come by to give me a break, and my fabulous friends will be dropping by from time to time. Taking a shower and trying to eat will be a little tricky but we will manage. Looks like she is going to need additional surgery. It won't be for a few months and we will have it done in NC. Just sucks, but it should not be as difficult as the surgery she has had already.

Surgery Day

Sophie's surgery went well and her prognosis is good. We are trying to help manage her pain so she can rest. It is hard to say how long she is going to be down, some kids bounce back quicker than others. I can say that she is pissed that she has an arm board with an IV and a heart monitor thingy on her toe! Thanks for all you good thoughts and prayers I would have been lost without them.

**smooch** from Sophie

Day 2

Day 2 was a tough one for both of us! My little Sophie is one tough cookie. Today she had PICC inserted. She pretty much fought the procedure the entire 30 minutes, she was crying I was crying and the nurses were exhausted from trying to keep her still. She was wrapped in a papoose with her arm sticking out and she screamed, squirmed and cried so much that the nurses warned the next group of nurses for her next prep! She didn't have much energy left when the put a tube in her nose and down her throat, but she lived up to her rep! She let me comfort her, but it was terrible standing by and watching her scream and cry. Sophie's surgery is bright and early tomorrow morning. I am confident that things will go well, but welcome prayers and good thoughts.

One Big Day Down

Sophie did well today for her X-ray, ultrasound and MRI. I will get more specific info when we talk to the doctor, but the nurses kind of hinted that things looked good. Sophie will be admitted tomorrow and they will begin to prep her for surgery on Thursday.

Krista
Robin and Maddy
Sandra, Tahlia and Jazzie
Connie

It is difficult to put in to words how much in means to me that have you taken time out of your busy lives to support Sophie and I here in Cincy.

We're Off...

Sophie and I are heading to Cincy tomorrow. The fabulous Krista will be there to meet us and to help me drag my freakin heavy piece of luggage. I swear this bag weighs more than the one I brought to China! I will be sure to post any updates. Sophie's first appointment isn't until Tuesday, and surgery day is Thursday. I will post good news soon!