Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Update re: Dad's dr's appointment

Dad went for a follow up visit Tuesday regarding his shoulder. Now, for the details. As we already knew before, if anything goes wrong the ONLY other option is complete shoulder replacement because then you have no need for the rotator cuff muscles. That being said, the doctor said that he thinks Dad is still ok. There might have been some tearing, but that is to be somewhat expected and you just don't want a total tear. He also said that there is still healing going on and to just keep taking it careful and don't be lifting any feed sacks :). So all is still ok and Dad said it definitely felt better than it did on Monday.

Tonight was our first night of revival with Rev. James Plank. We had a good crowd and the service was great or at least as much as I could tell because Lindsey had the sqirming busy bug inside of her. I kept busy the whole time entertaining her and trying to not have to take her out, but in the end I still had to.

Bye for now...

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Mondays Adventures - i.e. Doctors Visit & Mall Visit :)

First, I took Lindsey to her 1 year (or should I say 13 month) Doctors well visit checkup. She did great and bless her heart she had to get 3 shots and only cried for a minute or so and after that she just wanted mommy to hold her. She got one in her arm and each leg and it was so awful to hear that pitiful cry as she was receiving them, but she was a toughy as always. She weighed in at 26.2 lbs in the 95th percentile. She has grown a lot measuring 31 inches in the 87th percentile. She has really shot up in her height having grown 2.75 inches since the end of October. You can tell she's slimming down a bit because of her amount of growth in height. She's always been high in both percentile groups, but never this high in the height. All in all a great report for a healthy little girl from the doc.

We came home after the doctors appointment and Lindsey was very ready for her nap so Grandma S. rocked her to sleep while I did some house cleaning.

After Lindsey's nap, Mom, Lindsey and myself left for Kenwood Mall to go meet Jennifer and Katrin Eckert and do some shopping or should I say mostly window peeping :). I also had some returns to make. We had a great time and was able to buy some Sunday clothes for this spring/summer wardrobe that Lindsey is in much need of. Katrin and Lindsey now have coordinating outfits - they are exactly the same jumper / shirt / socks / bows except for the color, but the style is all the same. The funny thing is, when Jennifer and I were walking into the store we saw the hot pink style in the window and I stated that I would like to have the green and Jennifer said she would like to have the blue, but neither one of us really knew what we were going to buy and when we left, we left with the exact item and color that we had stated when we were walking into Children's Place. After we had been to many stores dragging Mom along with us, we ate in the food court and my Dad and Jonathan joined us to eat. We had a great time.

Then... After we got home, I stilled washed and curled Mom's hair since the rest of the week we are in revival with Rev. James Plank.

Tuesday, Dad goes to the doctor for a follow up on his shoulder surgery he had on November 15, 2006. Unfortunately I'm afraid to hear what the doctor might say because after all this time, last Thursday Dad must have hurt his arm and it has been bothering him ever since. I sure do hope he didn't tear anything loose. He wasn't really doing anything he wasn't supposed to, it was just the wrong move to make and it is now giving him trouble. I will try and remember to post a followup regarding this after he sees the doctor tomorrow. The doctor told him that in his situation he can only fix a shoulder that was as bad as his was only 1% of the time and after that he only has a 60% chance that the recovery will be successful.

Sorry for the long....... posting, but that was my day, such as it was. Later!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.
(Read the captions under the pictures for more details.)

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Saturdays Busyness

Wow, Saturday was a ver busy and fun filled day. It started out with not getting enough sleep. We met part of Jonathan's family in Harrison, OH for an afternoon of visiting. It was Jay, Brinda, Grandma Pitcher, and Sarah. We ate at Cracker Barrell and had a great time. Then at my mother-in-laws request we went over to Big Lots for a while, which also gave us more time to visit and of course more time that they could spend with their granddaughter that they hadn't seen in over a month. We were with them for 3 hours till 5. After we left them we went straight to downtown Cincinnati to the Omnimax where we met up with my whole family as well as the Shane Craycraft family and my friend Jennifer Eckert and her daughter Katrin. It was a great film that included part of the story on Hurricane Katrina. Then we all went out to eat. Afterwards Jennifer came over and our daughters had a great time playing together in their onesies before we put their jammies on them. I thought they looked so cute.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

Brian & Janella Snelling's New House

I have attached pictures of my brother Brian's new house that they just had built this past summer. They moved in the end of August.

For those of you who are interested - take a look.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Happy 1 month Birthday to my New BLOG!!

Well, I have now been blogging for 1 month, as of today.

THANKS A BUNCH TO ALL OF MY READERS!
I Love to hear from all of you!
I Love to get COMMENTS!

Thanks to the following list of my first month of commentors.

Aimee S., Amy M., Betty J., Brenda H., Carrie C., Dorcas B.,
Ella Ruth G. (Aunt Ruthie), Karen W., Kristina W., Linda S.,
Martha C., Martha C., Martha G., Melodie S., Michelle J.,
Myranda W., Nancy L.

Keep them coming and I hope more of you will join the crowd of commenting!

For those of you who do not know how to comment here are the basic starting instructions. At the end of each of my posts it says --- the date - the time - # of comments. Click on the # of comments and it will open up a link / box and that is where you can add a comment to my blog. Hope this helps for those of you who did not know how to previously.

I have attached a few pictures as well. When we had Lindsey's Birthday Party on 1/20/07 she would not touch her cake so I tried it 2 days later on her actual birthday 1/22/07, but she still really didn't want to, but I have attached the pictures of what she would do. I guess we'll shoot for next year and maybe she'll be a little more interested. I have also attached a couple of pics of her that I took during her nap today. I thought it was cute how she had her hands up under her head. I also love this little night gown.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

See ya - until next posting :)

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Wednesday's random thoughts ---

I have attached a few pics that I thought you might enjoy. They are casual fun loving times that we have had in the last few days with Lindsey. I have also attached a pic of my friend Suzanne who came over last Saturday evening with her husband Scott. You will also see in the pictures the indoor sled that we created for Lindsey. She absolutely loved it. Have a great rest of the day!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Tuesday, February 20, 2007

Just another day...

I'm beginning to think my life is quite boring. Today has just been another day and I really don't have much to say. Laundry, laundry, and more laundry was done today. Mom is coming along, but the recovery process is very long. Each day she gets better, but still needs her pain meds to be able to sleep at night. She has now been to two therapy sessions and they seem to think she is doing very well. Lindsey is learning more tricks :) If you ask her to stand on her head she now bends over and puts both hands on the floor and her head on the ground. Then of course she stands up and claps - YEAH!! She is learning to try and say lots of new word, but they still all sound like bubuh. :) Toodaloo for now!

Monday, February 19, 2007

MONDAY NEWS REPORT

Yes, I'm still alive and kicking, but obviously not very much because there has been NOTHING to blog about. I think I've finally come up with something, so don't leave me now. I promise I will keep blogging, there was just a sludge in my writing abilities :)

Our wonderful weekend was actually quite busy compared to the two previous weeks. On Friday evening we had our monthly Homebuilders meeting and we met at Shane & Tamra Craycrafts. There are 9 couples in our group and 4 1/2 of them were gone. The 1/2 being Shane because he had to go to a class. The other 1/2 in attendance being Tamra since she was the hostess. We had a good time anyways and had great food.

When we left there, we went to Brian & Janella's around 11 p.m. or so and left around 1 a.m. Mom & Dad had already spent the evening with Brian and the kids while Janella was at work, but we went and joined up with them for the remainder of the evening.

Saturday morning and afternoon were very uneventful, but then we decided to have company over and our friends, Scott & Suzanne Caplinger, came and had pizza with us and played a couple of games before they left a little after 11 p.m.

Sunday, is really meant for going to church, but we decided to actually do that this week. Explanation: the 2 previous weeks Jonathan has been very sick and my Mother had surgery and was and is still recouping. We actually all went to church both services today including my Mom. She did good, but it was still rough for her.

Sunday night after church we went to Brian and Janella's for a family gathering of 12 of us and had wonderful chili, which Brian was the cook. We had a great time.

Now for the picture part - non existant. I ALWAYS ALWAYS have my camera with me, it doesn't matter if I'm going to the grocery store, but for some odd reason every time I left the house this weekend it didn't seem to make it into the diaper bag. I would think of it, but would forget before I could follow through with the actual action of getting it. SORRY

So, for the pictures I think we will have a look down memories lane.
I have attached 3 pictures from this weekend 1 year ago. We went to a rodeo, on February 17, 2006, and Lindsey was not quite 1 month and she slept like an angel. I also attached a couple of pics from a Sunday night after we got home, which was on February 19, 2006.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

!! HAPPY VALENTINES DAY !!

Happy Valentines Day to all of you!
HVD to the world's greatest Husband, I love you, Jonathan!
HVD to the best daughter anyone could ever ask for.
Mommy & Daddy Love You So Much!

Today was very uneventful - I never left the house. I did get Lindsey dressed and all prettied up for the camera for a Valentines Day photo op in her pink and red sweater. I really got some good one's and I have attached the link below. I have recently discovered the key to getting a good picture of her at home is to put her where she can't run towards the camera, i.e. the coffee table. I had her stand and sit on it and she is aware that she is off the ground so she doesn't try to get off because she knows she would get hurt. We gave Lidsey a card and a cute little stuffed animal, red and white doggie. I have attached a picture of it as well.

Jonathan didn't go to work this morning because of the weather, but went in around noon and came home at normal time. When he got home he went to the grocery store with Dad to get the items we needed for our fine dining dinner at home. We had a lovely homemade Italian dinner for Valentines Day! The pictures are attached. You will find them quite interesting. We used the fine china, glasses and silverware, but then we used cheap napkins and put 5 ugly dressing bottles right on the table. It was fun and enjoyable though and the food was absolutely scrumptious. Don't look to close at me & Mom, like I said we never left the house today :)

We ended the evening by watching the new Janette Oke movie, Love's Abiding Joy. Mom used her Christian Bookstore gift certificate from the church to buy it. It was really good.

I hope all of you had a wonderful Valentines Day!

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Tuesday - Under Severe Storm Warnings...

...Outside & Inside! A days story of adventure while being snowed in! Wow, Tuesday was quite the day. I'm not sure if it was good - bad - loud - exciting - or what it was, but I woke up to a house full of kids. To be exact it was Bradley, my brother, and my two nieces, Anna & Jenna and my nephew, Jacob. Bradley and Anna went and picked up Jenna and Jacob to go eat breakfast at McDonald's and then he never returned them home. Instead they all came to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I don't know what time they got here, but it was probably around 11 or maybe even earlier. The house I think was literally turned upside down and shook. They had lots of fun all day, but I have never ever seen a bigger mess and it was every where you looked. I was able to take some fun pics, but way too messy to post on here. I do have some pride left :). I think every toy that existed of Lindsey's was brought out and dragged to unknown parts of the house. Then Brian came by after work and Janella came down to join the rest of us. Jonathan didn't have to work because of the weather, but poor Lisa did. So we decided to fix a BIG HUGE GIGANTIC pot of stew. We had a great day/evening together and enjoyed eating supper together. And while all of this was going on we were under severe weather conditions of ice coming down on top of the previous nights snow. Lindsey had a great time playing with her cousins. Needless to say, I spent much time after they left getting it back into shape. Yes, they helped, but nothing like it needed to be when it was all said and done. Goodbye for now!

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Hello from Me to You!

Well another Monday has come and gone. Mom has done absolutely great (in my opinion). She was up trying to help around the house or at least as much as a one armed person can. Jonathan's 1st day back to work after having been so sick went much better than I expected. It was rough, but he was not exhausted when he got home and went to bed at normal time. Lindsey, Grandpa S. and I went to the grocery store this evening. I guess it was my adventure out for the week. After having been in that house with all of the sick foke it sure felt good to get out of the house. We had baked potatos and chicken for supper. Well, I'm rambling - so I better go for now. I have attached some pictures of Lindsey that were taken this evening. I thought she looked so cute in her ~pink and brown~ outfit. (The following comments are regarding the attached pictures...) She loves books and loves them to be read to her. She will bring a book to me and then want up in my lap. She also loves to play peek a boo as you will see as she is hiding under the coffee table. She loves the little princess car that Aunt Lisa, Uncle Bradley, and Anna gave her for Christmas. When she first got it she couldn't even reach her feet to the ground. Now she is getting on and off of it like an old pro - starting to move around a little bit while on it - pushing and pulling it around. She loves it. She is quite the charmer as I feel the pictures show quite well.

Please click on the picture below for more pictures.


By the way it's snowing again in CINCINNATI - my only request is that I wish it would do this at Christmas time and not January & February. It would be so much more festive during the holidays. Oh well, I like snow and I guess I'll take it whenever I can get it. The snow from last week isn't even gone yet and now we're getting more. YEAH! Another 4-7 inches possibly.

Monday, February 12, 2007

On the road to recovery - - -

Well, some of us are getting better, but some quicker than others :)

Mom, of course, still has a long road to hoe, but she is improving. Thankfully she hasn't caught any of the other sicknesses in the house (so far - cross my fingers). She's still having some bad pain, but it's all to be expected. She will be starting therapy this week, so please pray for her when you think about it. {she HATES therapy} And she had 40 therapy sessions last year alone for her arm and none of it helped and now she's to hopefully the final stages.

Dad got sick on Thursday and started improving by Saturday evening, but not really feeling real good until Sunday evening. He had the flu achey bug.

Jonathan has improved greatly after getting his increased meds from the doctor on Friday. He is going to go to work Monday. I don't think it will be an easy day, but he really doesn't have much of a choice, if he's able to go at all, since the other guy has to be gone all day. Hopefully it's not too exausting for him.

Me, well I havn't gotten anything so far. I did have a bad chest cough and it's gone for the most part - I did have a little bit of a head cold from sleeping under the ceiling fan, but that's basically gone - and I thought I was getting the flu bug on Saturday, but I guess I fought it off to, because I am feeling ok now.

Lindsey, she's still hanging in there like a trooper and doing great :).

Goodbye - until next time!

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Friday Update - - - HELP!!

HELP!!!!! I've got cabin fever and I'm not even sick.

Friday was a better day for Mom. The pain is about the same - not great - not horrible. She is in much better spirits now. She is coming out of the mullie grubs. Her nights are still not going well, but her days are tolerable. She is now much more like her self.

Well, guess whose sick now? My Dad. He had a 101.1 fever at one point on Friday. He started coming down with it on Thursday and didn't even go with us to the doctors apt. for Mom. He said he was not aching as bad Friday evening, but he was still very weak and very quickly exerted himself when he walked from one room to the next.

Jonathan was back to the doctor this morning at 9 a.m. and didn't get back home until 11:30 or so. He had to wait forever to see the doctor. She said it wasn't pneumonia, but just still very bad asthmatic bronchitis. She doubled his steroid medicine and sent him to the hospital to get a chest x-ray just to make sure nothing else was going on. Everything turned out ok except for showing that he definitely has the bronchitis - VERY BAD. He is now off work till at least Tuesday. I have never seen him this kind of sick. He has other sicknesses i.e. MIGRAINES, but not this kind of stuff. I feel so sorry for him. He is completely 100% miserable.

I am still hanging in there with just my chest cough - nothing else - thank goodness.
Lindsey is doing great as well. Her normal runny nose, but that's probably because she is teething on 4 new teeth.

On a different note ~ THANK YOU!!!!

Thank you so much to all the people in the church that have been bringing in food after Mom's surgery. We had 4 great meals brought in and it has lasted for longer then that. It has been great and so very helpful and especially so, since I am the one having to take care of everyone and would normally have to be doing the cooking as well.

The ladies from Mom's work delivered a $60. gift certificate to Honeybaked Ham.

One of the company's Mom works with sent a Honeybaked Ham along with the works of - Scalloped Potatos, Maccaroni and Cheese, and Cheesecake. Yummy!! That came on Thursday, but I think we're going to actually start eating it on Saturday since we still had so much other food still left.

~ Later ~

Friday, February 9, 2007

Update of Thursday 2/8/07

From the desk of Leanna in the wee hours of the morning.... 3:20 a.m.

Update re: Jonathan
Jonathan was planning on going to work today, but... He got much worse. He is going back to the doctor in the morning to find out what's going on. He was improving so well and then back to the bottom and farther he went. I sure hope he's not getting pneumonia. I will post later as to what the doc says.

Update re: Mom
Well, she went to the doctor today for her first post op appointment. Let me clarify a few things that we found out today. They did and always would have cut thru 1 of the rotator cuff muscles and when finished stitch it back together, no matter how bad it may be. They did cut the corner of the shoulder ball off and put a prosthestic type ball over the remaining part that was left. And yes... they put a 170mm (aprox 6 1/2 in) stem down into her arm bone to attach it. The part that they didn't do, which we found out was verrry good was the other 1/2 of the shoulder replacement because they said it always comes loose 100% of the time and eventually has to be reattached. That is the part that the new ball rubs on. So, we are very thankful that it was healthy bone and did not have to be replaced. Mom, as the doctor put it, still feels like a mac truck ran over her. She has been very lethargic since Tuesday. They said that is from the anesthetic and will gradually wear off, but that it lingers in your system for a while. Mom definitely doesn't feel like going back to work yet, but asked the doctor what time frame she is looking at and he said we'll talk about it in a month when you come back. So, we're looking till at least March 9th. She had her first rough night last night and I am hoping that it is not a repeat tonight.

Later for now - Maybe I will post again when normal people are awake :)

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Another day...

Today has been an uneventful day. Mom has had a fairly good day, with no major amount of pain. Tomorrow she goes to the doctor. Jonathan is improving and is going to try and go to work tomorrow. He's not completely better, but greatly improved due to the help of the medicines he is on. This evening Dad, Lindsey, and I went to the Library and to JC Penney's to pick up her 1 yr pictures.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

~~~ SNOW ~~~

It's snowing in Cincinnati! Yeah!! It's beautiful, pretty, and very cold. Mom had her surgery post op doctors visit to go to today. So.... We got ready and left to go to the doctors, but we didn't make it far because of the weather. The roads are bad and the creeping traffic is really bad. We went only a few miles in about 40 minutes and that was a round trip circle back home. We have now rescheduled Mom's doctors visit for Thursday afternoon. She is not in a lot of pain today, but very subdued, quiet and tired. I think with her all being cooped up is getting to her.

After we got back home from our un successful trip out I took the pictures that are attached of Lindsey looking out the window at the snow.

Click on the picture below for more pictures.

Monday, February 5, 2007

Reporting in from the sick & afflicted household...

Well, not only am I helping take care of my mother after having had surgery, and taking care of my very busy 1 year old, now my husband is sick. He got sick on Saturday and has progressively gotten worse, so today he went to the doctor and he has asthmatic bronchitis. Yuck Yuck!!! I told him to stay clear of me :) I sure don't want it and I sure don't need it. He was supposed to leave tonight for a business training class in Indianapolis, but is now post-poning it till sometime in March or so. Later for now... I'm sure there's something I have to go and do.

Sunday, February 4, 2007

Another Update about Mom...

Today has been an ok day as far as the pain goes. She still has the pain care pump in that injects the medicine right into the shoulder. That will be taken out Monday afternoon. She will go to the Dr for her followup on Tuesday. I actually re did her bandages and was able to see the incision, which is about 4 inches long. Thanks to all of you for your prayers.

!!UPDATE!! Regarding my Mother's surgery details...

Hello to all! I am finally back to my blog to give you an update regarding my mother. Friday, February 2nd, was verrrrry loooong. I was up and going at 4:50 a.m. Dad, Mom, Lindsey and myself arrived at Holmes Hospital a couple minutes after 6 a.m. She received her nerve block and they took her to surgery at 7:34. Around 8:30 a nurse came out & was able to tell us that Mom's surgery was mostly done and would be going to recovery shortly. At 9:30 the PA came out to tell us everything was done and that it all went well. Mom was scheduled to have a complete shoulder replacement and the good news was that they only ended up having to do a Hemi (partial) shoulder replacement. They cut the corner of the shoulder ball off that rubs against the bone as it rotates. They put a prosthetic type ball over that area that slipped down and around the remaining part of ball that was left. The flat bone that it rubs against was in healthy condition, which they were not expecting to find. When a shoulder replacement surgery is done they have to go through the rotator cuff muscle(s) to work on the bone. Therefore they had to go thru what had been repaired in the past and then they said it was quite tedious getting it back together. There was lots of scar tissue, which Mom is very prone to. Her recovery will be longer than what we were expecting. I am expecting her to be off work at least 3 to 4 weeks and maybe even more, but we really don't know at this point. Once Mom was in recovery she had quite a time of it with feeling like she couldn't breathe. Due to the nerve block she had received she had a feeling of paralysis, but recovered from that quickly. We were asked to leave around 11:30 a.m. and to go get a bite to eat and that they would give us a call when she had been transported and assigned to a room over at Univeristy of Cincinnati Hospital. It ended up being all afternoon into early evening and she finally arrived to her room at 6 p.m. The evening was uneventful with all of our family being there. We ordered in Adriatako's pizza and spent the evening with Mom. Dad went back Saturday and she was dismissed and came home around 1:30 p.m. She is now home resting and considering what she has been thru is doing quite well. She is in pain, but that is to be expected. Thank you to Pastor Philips, Jim and Betty Jewett for coming to sit with the family during Mom's surgery. We appreciate your thoughtfulness. Later for now.

Click on the picture below and you will get to see more pictures of the 18 hour day we spent at the hospital.

Thursday, February 1, 2007

Prayer Request... my Mother is having surgery

Hello to everyone. I wanted to let you know that my Mother, Gloria, will be having surgery this coming Friday morning, February 2nd at Holmes Hospital in Cincinnati, OH. She is having a complete 100% left shoulder replacement. She will be staying overnight so that they can help better manage her pain level during the first 24 hours after surgery. She is glad that this will be the end of her pain of over a year and 4 surgeries later, but it makes her quite nervous to actually think about what's going to be done. But... it definitely helps knowing who is doing the surgery. It will be done by Dr. Colosimo who is the Bengals and Bearcats Orthopaedic Doctor. Here is the link for more details: http://ucortho.com/CV_Colosimo.html. He is one of the best available. Please pray for her during this time. I will try to keep an update on here of how she is recovering.