Countdown to 5k

Hello friends,

In just 3 days Maya and I will be participating in the Friends of the Orphans 5k, Maya in the Kid Run and me pushing her in the stroller for the walk/run. I'm currently 48% of the way towards my fundraising goal of $1,000 and need your help.

Friends of the Orphans is the organization that Sean works for that supports orphan homes in Latin America and the Carribbean, including Haiti. Sean has visited four of the homes and we both went to the Haiti home last summer. We have seen firsthand the powerful and life-changing work that they do, believe strongly in the mission, and try to support them in every way that we can.

The picture below is of our visit to the Haiti home, where we got to meet Herby and Deristin, the boys that we and Sean's brother sponsor.



If you live nearby, I'd love for you to join Maya and me as we walk through beautiful Highland Park this Sunday. If you're interested in supporting Friends of the Orphans by walking or running, please click on the link below for more info:

http://www.friendsoftheorphans.org/s/769/inner.aspx?sid=769&pgid=880&gid=1&cid=1890&ecid=1890

If you're able to donate to the work of Friends of the Orphans, please use the link below to do so online quickly & securely. I thank you in advance for your support, and really appreciate your generosity!!

http://www.active.com/donate/FOTO5K2010/abreininger

Thanks very much and watch for pictures from the event in the next few days!

Add another "sport" to the list...

In our week of illness, which continues on, we've watched the four episodes of the Backyardigans countless times. One features pom pons, which, of course, prompted Maya to wish for a pair of her very own. When her life-saver of an aunt, Amanda, came to babysit for a few hours pom pons were created out of mere paper towels, tape, and glitter glue. Which led to this...

Egg Hunt

Who knew finding plastic eggs could bring this kind of joy?

A bug?

After a call to the ENT office this morning to report the happenings of the weekend, we were told to head in to the Pediatrician or ER today to make sure Maya wasn't dehydrated. We went in to our Doctor and they took chest x-rays to see if she has pneumonia, which she does not. They think that she just happens to have a bug that coincided with surgery. We're making plans to have her stay home again tomorrow just to give her one more day before being around even more germs.

We're not over-protective...we just wanted to make sure she was warm enough!

Recovery

We were told to bring cameras to document this experience for Maya but were there for such a short amount of time that this is pretty much all we got. I will say that lying in a cozy bed, being asked if I, uh, I mean Maya, needed more pillows or a heated blanket and being brought endless popsicles was quite delightful.

Pre-Surgery Play

We were grateful that Maya's surgery was at a Children's hospital for many reasons. This video shows just one.

Day Four

Well, things here didn't quite continue on in the pleasant way that they began post-surgery. Day 2 and 3 started off well. She even rode her bike around the block yesterday morning! But both days found her with a high fever by mid-day that left her lethargic and clingy and she's been coughing/throwing up crud off and on for the last two days.

She slept a good 14.5 hours last night, with only one bought of coughing and one spell of waking up to declare, "I DON'T LIKE SLEEPING!" (Apparently that dislike hasn't been cured yet.)

Sean's back to work today but I'm home for another day. I'm praying that today will bring a big turnaround. We had been warned that days 3-5 could be worse than 1-2, but that was in regard to pain, which she hasn't had any of. Time will tell.

In the meantime, we've watched our new Backyardigans video about a thousand times. We were charmed the first 624 times, but it's getting a little old at this point.

Can you tell I'm getting stircrazy?

Successful Surgery

First of all, thanks for all of the prayers and support that you gave us yesterday! The day went faster and more smoothly than I had anticipated.

For those of you who want a general update. It went great and she's fine. I know others of you are into the details, so here they are.

We arrived at the hospital at 10 am, where the nurse who had led our surgery class told the staff that whoever got to work with Maya was in for a treat. The nurses did enjoy working with our nugget. She spends so much time playing doctor at home that when they were listening to her heart with the stethescope she was taking deep breaths so they could check her lungs too. Each new doctor or nurse we would see would say, "We heard she's cute and they weren't kidding!"

They gave her a pair of pjs, which are probably "typical" 3-year-old size. We put them on and they looked like capris and a belly shirt! We upgraded to the next size.

She went in at 12:24 and was finished by 1. The Doctor said that the cyst turned out to be two inches long and that the adenoid was bigger than it had been when x-rayed five weeks ago, so she was very glad that both were removed.

She waasn't too happy coming out of anesthesia so I got to go into the recovery room and do some soothing. I even got to ride in the bed with her down to her short-stay room! By the time we got down there she was talking and alert and very excited about the popsicles. We snuggled, watched a movie, and ate three popsicles before we went home an hour later.

Once we got home the eating frenzy continued. Two Jell-O cups, two bowls of oatmeal, a yogurt cup, scrambled eggs and a bunch of juice later we cut her off and sent her to bed.

She was up in the night, happy as a clam, saying things like, "Remember that time we went on that bus and there were "buckle seats" all over?" She woke up at her normal time but after two hours went back to bed for a good long nap.

She's up now with a fever that regular Tylenol seems to be taking care of and is eating more Jell-O and juice but doesn't seem to be in any pain. We're planning on a low key weekend of cartoons, snuggling and juice drinking and I took Monday off just in case.

Another new parent hurdle jumped!

Surgery Tomorrow

Tomorrow at 11:30 am Maya will have her adenoids (thanks mom for pointing out the correct spelling!) and a cyst removed. We feel very fortunate to be able to have this done at a Children's Hospital, which has so far been a wonderful experience.

We went to "Surgery Class" last week, where the kids got to watch a puppet show about what was going to happen. Then the kids got to go into one room where they tried on the anesthesia masks and even choose a flavor of chapstick to color the inside with so that it would smell good! During this time a nurse talked to the parents and told us about every detail of the day. At the end we all went on a tour of the hospital and got to see where we'll check in, where we'll wait, the room she'll recover in, etc. She and I also went on a shopping trip to get special post-surgery treats this week. We've got a fridge stocked with juices, popsicles, Jell-O, ice cream and even a special cup. They say she'll need to drink a ton of liquids but won't want to, so we're hoping these items will help.

I'll do my best to post tomorrow or Saturday to let you know how things went. In the meantime, keep us in your prayers!