Update on Caden

Hello all. Here is an update about Caden from my mother. If you read carefully, her spirits sound fairly high, which is very good. She isn't as young as Caden and it is harder for her to bounce back. I am also attaching the picture that she sent because I think it is cute. It's definitely a Happy 4th of July picture if I have ever seen one.

"It's Saturday afternoon, Caden is taking his nap (rare these days) so I thought I would take advantage of the free time to send out my update. The attached picture is Caden approved. It was very important that the picture showed him smiling. He also asked that I tell everyone that he feels good! Actually, considering everything going on right now, he is doing better than anticipated. What's going on? He is still running a fever; not as bad as last round because this round he is a big boy and is taking his Tylenol. "It makes me feel better Nana and make my bever go away!". I am so proud of him, we have come so far! Because of the mysterious fevers, he is on three antibiotics again. So far we are still blessed without the negative side effects we had last time and, the blood cultures have all been negative. His ANC count is still 0 so we all worry about infection. Purell is great stuff, if you don't use it, get some and use it, it helps! Of course being cautious of who he around helps too. He has developed some sores on his right foot and now has some red spots showing up in different parts of his body. They are not sure what they are because with his counts so low, any normal fungus or virus does not present itself in the normal way, thus making it hard to identify. To me, it looks like a staff infection. So, being the bossy Nana I am, I insisted they send in the cleaning staff yesterday to sanitise the entire room! I mean I moved everything around and out that I could and had the beds stripped and wiped down. I then wiped Caden thoroughly down with Chlorhexidine wipes. The sores on the top of his foot look a tiny bit better, the rest look the same. There was one rash spot under his arm that is completely gone today. I'm sure the improvement is due to both the antibiotics and sanitising. I asked the doctors how much longer they think it will be before his ANC comes back up and the shrug and say, "We expect them to come up sometime in the next 6 weeks." Humph, seems to me they said that 6 weeks ago. Okay, I am exaggerating, but it feels like it! Like I said last week, we are all ready to be done. Most of all, we want Caden to be better! Please keep the prayers going, I believe they are working. We enjoyed watching the fireworks on TV for a few minutes but Harry Potter was more interesting to Caden! Thank you and God Bless. Cindy"

Fest and Craft Fair

Well, here are some pictures from the craft fair at the multicraft store and from the 4th of July Fest. The store was supposed to be closed today but opened up anyway. I think they did OK business wise, but I didn't look at the books :) I do know that I paid for the girls to take a "Kid's Craft Summer Camp" from the 4th through 8th of August. They will make different crafts everyday, which as most of you know the girls will LOVE. The crafts are ceramic dish, marbled paper, book, t-shirt and one other thing I can't remember. It is from 11:00 to 1:30 each of those days, the craft supplies, and instructor are part of the price. I think it will be money well spent.

I think that the pictures from the rides turned out pretty. My three girls look SO cute! The fair was good, chocolate covered strawberries were GREAT! Dad took the girls to the movies, the fest, and they got home around midnight from the fireworks. Little (I guess not so little) Michael hung out the whole day with his friends eating junk food and chilling. They all rode home together. All-in-all, it was a really great day.

Random Thoughts and 4th of July

Well, I officially missed a posting day yesterday. Truth is...I couldn't think of much to say. Those of you who know me are saying "yeah RIGHT Jen!" I do have some stuff though. Today is 4th of July, and I am going to bring the dragonflies and spiders over to the Patch Multicraft store for the craft fair. Since is just me and one other guy I guess I should just say I am going over to hang out with the girls at the shop :) I must admit I am looking forward to seeing the new door too. I think it's great that it's supposed to be up and running today. What great timing!

While I hope that the dragonflies and spiders sell, I must say that I am just sort of excited to get out of the house and hang out with grown-ups. Don't tell the people at work, but I get bored over the summer. I am bringing my much neglected cross stitch project with me so that I have something to do. I don't know what the rush is really. I mean it's not like it's been worked on for like five years or something--yes it has! In my defense, I am also working on a tapestry for my grandmother and other things too. Like the Earth Angel one I did. JennyP might remember how I made that big beautiful project for Karen and she said it didn't go with her decor. Keep mean ugly thoughts to myself. Anyway, I am just lazy I guess. I also have a blanket I need to finish along with many other things.

Anyway, I started seeing what I thought of dragonflies with no antenna since we all know they don't have them, and I am attaching a picture of one of them so that JennyP and anyone else who wants to can comment on them and let me know what they think. YES I know I didn't use the light box, but leave me alone...it's not like I am selling it online. Let me know what you think. I have others, but I liked this orange one because it reminds me of the picture I took at my mom's house last summer. Oh and Kelly, Corrinea, and JennyP if you see me not working on my cross stitch today remind me that I want to finish it so that I can finish others :)

Spiders, Spiders Everywhere!

I am attaching a picture of my best spider to date. I am giving it to my JennyP because she wants one for her tree (the German Christmas Story) and because, like the picture says, I love her :) I am making a really pretty lavender one now and I am getting better with each spider.

Right now I am taking the Fourth of July dragonflies to the store so that they are out there before the craft fair. Maybe I will get lucky and people will like them as much as I do and buy some. If not I will cry my heart out. OK, not really...I might think they have no taste though :) OH, and by the way the red spider below was upside down because I wasn't paying attention to the way I bent the legs. So NO he is NOT supposed to look like a Rastafarian.

Straight and Narrow

Well, we straightened the girls' hair last night. They now think that they can wear their hair down without worry as if they are little white girls with bone straight hair. Problem is...they aren't. Their hair is not the same as mine and their friends' even with the straightener in it. Madison wore hers in just a pony tail today and we will see in an hour or so how she feels about that when (and if) her hair is full of rats and hurts to comb. I was able to get Sierra to see reason and let me put it is a single braid. I also tried to get them to understand that they would be hotter with their hair down--even in a pony. There was no reasoning with them so I was out of luck.

I have seven of the ten Independance Day dragonflies done and will be starting on a few spiders along the same line. I hope to sell them at the Arts and Crafts fair at Patch on Friday, 4 July. Once can hope. I will of course have a bunch of other colors that day as well. One thing I forgot to mention about these little guys is that they look great as Christmas ornaments and all you need for that is some ribbon! The lights on the tree look really pretty. I am thinking about creating a small web for the spiders. I will know if I really want to do it if and when it gets done I suppose. I am just trying to keep it mixed up a bit so that I don't get bored with it. Of course I still have two different very large cross stitch projects to do AND a whole bunch of books that I bought during the school year to read over the summer when I had more time. So I have plenty to do that will switch it up, but maybe I will just take a nap :)

Seasonal Dragonfly and Pics of My Mommy

I have decided to create some season specific dragonflies for Fourth of July. It would not be something that I might choose, but lots of people like red, white, and blue things. I am selling ten of them in my etsy store, and will bring some into the store. I will also have some at the arts and crafts show. My friend LeAnn gave me the idea and then I felt silly not having thought of it. Such a simple idea :) I hope they sell OK but if not oh well! I tried!

Also, here are some pictures of my sweet mommy. She is taking a MUCH needed break from the hospital with Caden or the Ronald MacDonald house with Cameron to take a stroll on the beach. Good for you mommy! You have to take care of yourself too. Perhaps you should make it a daily ritual until you leave. You were right though...the pictures turned out really well. I think I can see the stress washing out with waves. For the moment anyway.