Who Knew

First things first. Jillian was sick. Sudden onset of bad headache and fever. So she got to take some Tamiflu. Because even though she had the H1N1 vaccine about 3 weeks ago she can still get the swine flu. Who knew?? Obviously I didn't. The doctor kind of chuckled at me when I asked if she received the vaccine could she still get the virus. His response was "definately!" Well, I'm no genius. I don't think she necessarily had the makings of the swine flu but just to be on the safe side she got the Tamiflu. And who knew that Kaiser, to decrease the risk of spreading germs, has Doctor appts. by phone? They give you a time that a doctor is going to call you and then you wait by the phone. But she is feeling better now.

And on to this.......

My baby turned 16 on Saturday.

We had a surprise dinner party for her at Bucca Di Beppo. And she was actually suprised! Although in this picture she is more embarrassed than surprised.

Again.....the embarrassment

But she'll always be daddy's little girl

Meltdowns

When Mikayla and Haley were little one of their favorite stories was The Kissing Hand.

When they started school they both had rituals we had to do at drop offs. They were never real fond of me leaving them. Mikayla especially would get a little weepy at times. And Haley had a hard time with transitions.

So we came up with an idea. When I dropped them off I would give them a kissing hand and they would give me one. And as I was walking away we would touch our cheeks with our kissing hands.

Then one day Haley told me she was worried that the kissing hand wasn't working. She thought that because she had to wash her hands at times throughout the day that she was washing off the "kiss" that was supposed to be comforting her while I wasn't with her. And Mikayla agreed.

So we developed a special spray that after we would kiss each other's hands we would spray a little of this spray into each others' hands and it would keep the kiss on our hand all day, no matter how many time we washed our hands.

As they got older and more independent the kissing hand was needed less.

It was always a great memory for me. But I had sort of forgotten about it until recently.

Jilly is having a hard time with her emotions at school. I had my first parent/teacher conference with her teacher yesterday. Academically she is doing fantastic. Reading like a champ. The only "concern" is that Jilly cries very, very easily. I knew this. I had hoped it would get better in kindergarten, new experiences, new people. But it hasn't. And it is actually worse when I am around.

I have given Jilly a kissing hand a few times before. Mostly at bedtime when she tells me that she had bad dreams.

Last night we were laying in her bed talking about the day. I shared with her how awesome her teacher said she is doing in school, how smart she is - she says "yeah, I know". And then I ask her if she is still crying alot at school. She says, "yeah, sometimes I just can't help it". So we talked about things that make us cry and how to use our words.

She then said "what about a kissing hand?" I told her I thought that was a fantastic idea. That I could give her a kissing hand when I drop her off at school and if she is feeling sad or feels like crying to put her hand to her cheek and mommy will be giving her a kiss to make her feel better.

She thought about it and said that would help her a lot but her teacher has them wash their hands a lot and what if she washes the kiss off and feels like crying?

So I told her how when Mikayla and Haley were little like her we developed a special spray that would protect the kiss and keep it on her hand no matter what.

She thought that was pretty cool so I showed her how we spray the kiss to protect it. She then touched her cheek and told me that makes her happy.

She then pulled my hand up to her mouth, kissed it and sprayed it with the special spray. And she told me she would do this for me in the morning in case I was having a bad day or missing her I would have her kiss to make me feel better.

And it worked.....for me anyway.

Catching up with Pics

Here is a little recap of our Halloween in pictures:

Jilly working hard at carving her pumpkin

Our finished product - the first one is Haley's - she carved her skull and crossbones upside down:)

We then went to Jilly's school's fall carnival and Jilly had so much fun on this slide

this is Jilly and Mikayla - Mikayla was helping out in the haunted house - she graduated from this elementary school and went to every carnival while she attended

then Jilly had a carnival at her daycare - here she is in a sack race

and a doughnut eating contest

and then trick or treating with Haley and some good friends of ours

super girl and her SuperMan

I did it

Jilly got her H1N1 vaccine tonight. Thank you very much for all your comments and emails.

Yes, I am like a lamb being led to slaughter.

I say that in jest, really. But the research I did on the internet shed a whole new light on the meaning of wackadoodle.

Did you know there are sites out there written by people who truly believe the government is trying reduce the world population by having introduced the swine flu in the first place and now injecting us with chemicals. What I found is that there is a huge mistrust in our government, our medical community, research labs, pharmaceutical companies, the list goes on.

I did find some legitimate reasons to be concerned but then I found some answers and solutions - but I'm not here to sway anyone's decisions or become a propaganda machine so I'll keep that information to myself.

For some reason the decision to have her vaccinated was really hard. I"m not sure why. Not because of any conspiracy theory, more just some good old common sense that led me to want to know more. The whole way over to the medical office I was still feeling unsure about my decision.

Holy Cow!! Half of Elk Grove had beat me there. Waiting specifically for the H1N1 vaccine. I waited in line for over 45 minutes.

Safety in numbers. If they are all here for it then it must be ok. Because if something fishy is going on and the government is trying to turn as all into pigs, then most of Elk Grove fell prey to their trickery.

And were off to carve some pumpkins.....

H1N1 Vaccine

The H1N1 vaccine is available for Jillian at Kaiser. Just found out so I haven't taken her in yet. I have tried to do some quick research on the safety of it. Of course there is tons of conflicting information. And of course both her pediatrician and her pediatric cardiologist both say it's safe.

I am not one to follow conspiracy theories or extreme views. But there is a case to be made that the vaccine was developed very quickly.

So I am just curious - for all you heart moms out there - or moms in general since all children are considered a high risk group and can get the vaccination when available - what are you all thinking? Have you already had your kids vaccinated with the H1N1 vaccine - are you planning too? Let me know what you are thinking about all of this. I want to know.

Bits and Pieces

So yes, somebody lost her first tooth. It was wiggly, she wanted the tooth fairy to bring her some cash, so she pulled that sucker right out. And was very proud of herself.

She's been a busy gal. We went on her first field trip with her kindergarten class yesterday. Very cute. She has a halloween party tomorrow night at her daycare. She has a halloween carnival next Friday at her school.

And Jilly finally has something of her own. She had her first girl scout meeting on Tueday. Now, the world of girl scouts is very new to me. I never did girl scouts. The older girls never did girl scouts. But she really wanted to do it because a couple of her best buddies from school are doing it - so here we go.

It is interesting how being in this heart world has opened up a new perspective in life for me. I have mentioned time and again how Russ and I run into students and others whose lives are affected by CHD. Russ has a student this year, somebody who Mikayla has gone to school with since kindergarten, who had open heart surgery not too long ago and was in and out of the hospital with some heart issues. He reached out to his mom, let her know he understood what she was going through. Her response was that of finally, somebody who knows what I am going through. A friend of mine recently was told her little boy has to have open heart surgery. She was stressed. I tried to give her as much information as I could to help relieve a little tiny smidgen of stress.

And then at the girl scout meeting the most interesting thing. As I was filling out all of the paperwork I went up to speak to the two moms who are the leaders. I told one that I would bring the emergency information to her another day because I needed to attach some paperwork and take my time filling it out. I mentioned that Jilly has a CHD and I just want parent chaperone's to be aware of her health issues in case she goes on an outing without me.

But when I said "Jilly has congenital heart disease" the other leader mom laughed, pulled down her shirt to expose her scar and said "Me too!" I laughed and said "What do you have?" I have since forgotten what her CHD is but she said she's had 2 open heart surgeries. Then she touched my arm and said "you are not alone - she's in good company"

The irony that here we stand, two adults, one living with CHD and the other living with someone with CHD, laughing at our connection.

I guess it's nice that I can laugh out loud about these little ironies. These little connections that seem to keep happening. I guess if I am not laughing I am wanting to cry.

Like on Jilly's field trip yesterday. Sitting on the hayride with a bunch of moms - who by the way seem so much younger than me...but that's what happens when you have a baby later in life. It seems that there are a bunch of Sutter ICU nurses whose kids attend Jilly's school. So they were talking about ICU life, one happens to work on the cardiac ICU. And she's talking about a 14 year old boy who had a berlin heart or something like that I think. Talking about how amazing it is to see kids come in and get heart surgeries and the amazing things these surgeons are doing. And the other ICU nurse is agreeing, having just worked a graveyard shift and has not slept yet.

And the whole time part of me wants to say "yeah, pretty amazing stuff" But I don't want to get into that conversation of how I know that stuff is amazing. I don't want to use Jilly as a segway into conversations.

One of the ICU mom's turns to me at the end of her conversation and says "I just love Jillian, she is absolutely adorable."

Yeah, I agree. She is. I would much rather use her cuteness as a segway into a conversation.

Apple Hill Pics

So I'm a week behind but here are some pictures from our annual trip to Apple Hill last weekend.

Jilly and a big pumpkin she found

Surfing the pumpkins

Trying to take a family pic and our little ham wanted to dance instead. I'm actually thinking I like this pic so much I may use it on my Christmas cards

riding a pony

Jilly and her "Coco"

My girls

My beautiful girls:)