Things........

The middle of February Ken and I had the chance to go to Chicago for a Project Hopeful conference. I wanted to go to educate myself on the adoption/raising of kids that are HIV+. Not only adopting kids with HIV but HIV in general. We had a free flight, free room and someone to watch the kids! It was really educational and we met A LOT of people and some new friends. Anyone remember this sweet face???

IRINA!!! The Allen family along with other RR families were there and it was so cool to meet them and their sweet, sweet kids! It's funny how you read about these families and then finally get to meet them, in person.
Kiel and Carolyn Twietmeyer along with their kids are wonderful advocates for these kids and I hope some day I could do as great of a job as they do!

It's funny how things happen around here. It all seems to hit at once. The last three weeks we have had the cold/flu going from one person to another. Everyone seemed to get through it fine except Denis. I had made a doctor appointment for him at 4:00 but at 1:00 I rushed him into the clinic. They then sent us straight to the emergency at Children's Hospital. They worked on him trying to get his oxegen up and testing him for what seemed like everything and got him on a IV. After 4 hours they tranfered him to the U of M. They thought it would be better since the U had all his records and more info on his heart. He spent 4 days in the ICU and 2 days in his own little isolation room. After all was said and done he was diagnosed with a viral infection. He is having all his dental work done in the next three weeks and then his heart surgery this summer, which is only a few months away. Ugh, I'm really nervous about it!! He has only gained 1 1/2 pounds since being home, a whole whopping 19lbs! And he will be 5 in 8 days. And yes, he eats like a little piggy so I don't get it?!?! They had a super hero day at the hospital one day and handed out costumes for all the kids and had games and contests. Here is a picture of our little super hero!!


He looks so big because the costume was WAY to big for him so Kaylee laid in right on top of him!! hehehe! Even when is so sick he's SOOOOOO CUTE! Love that boy!
He's feeling much better and back to his normal self.

The Friday we brought Denis home my dad called and said something was wrong with Jack (his dog). So I drove the 2 1/2 hours right away to go see what was happening with my boy Jack! We brought him into the emergency vet at 11 p.m. By 12:30 they diagnosed him with having diabetes and a urinary infection. After getting a dose of insulin and some antibiotics we were on our way. I just knew in my gut that something was wrong though. He slept by me that night like he always does when I'm at his house or he is at mine but by morning he was doing worse. I told my dad that I was bringing him back home with me to my vet. He loves, loves, loves the car and I'm glad I was able to give him his last long car ride with the windows down until Roc and I got to cold and had to put them up! We laid him in my room on a comfy dog bed where he passed within the hour. I loved that dog so much. He was such a good boy! What I wasn't expecting though is that my dad would take it so hard. I mean he was always the one there for me growing up when one of our animals went on to greener pastures. But Jack was my dads buddy, his pal. They went everywhere together! I think it was one of the hardest things I had to do was when I called my dad to tell him I couldn't fix Jack. Ugh, I'm bawling now just thinking about it all. Ken and Roc drove Jack back up to grandpas to bring him home. I did make sure he had a soft dog bed, bone, lawn mower wheel which he loved to chew on and my blanket that has been around the world with me! Ken and dad were none to happy with me because of the bigger frozen hole they had to did because of the big dog bed going with Jack, but oh well!! Love you Jack and I will NEVER EVER forget the joy you brought to me, grandpa and my kids!









Here is some other things going on around here.........

Joshy is having surgery this Thursday. He is having his tonsils out, tubes in his ears, a CT scan, a brain response test and all his dental work done, which is a TON! Poor guy, I'm sure he will not be a happy camper the next few days after.

Arti is doing great! In fact he is running around and around the table as I type this. The boy has energy!

Dani is scheduled to have her first surgery before she starts school in the fall. They are not sure yet if she can see out of the eye where the hemoglobin was pushing on her eye. It has left the skin just hanging unable for her to open it very wide. She is one loud girly!!! In fact out of all the kids, she is defintely the LOUDEST!!! But she is also very, very polite. She says thank you to everything. If you wash her hands, she says thank you. If you buy groceries, she says thank you. If you pick up something off the floor, she says thank you. It is so funny and cute.

Charley will be having another surgery this month too on his ears. He has holes in his ear drums. He always seems to have infections which is causing hearing loss. After the surgery he will have a pick line for us to give him his antibiotics through. He had this after his surgery a few years ago and he did really well with it. Hoping the same is true this time around.

The other kids are doing well and are looking forward to their new siblings! Hopefully by June everyone will be home for good........unless I beg Ken to go back for more! LOL!!!