Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Adamis Update

Hi everyone!

Yesterday, Mercedes and I followed Robert up to Sacramento to see where he works; see our new house; and sign 100 more papers at the title company! I'm really glad Mercedes went with us. I wanted her to know what "Sacramento" was since Daddy's always there and now she knows! Although, she doesn't realize it's an actual city. She thinks the building Robert works at is "Sacramento." heehee =) She's so cute! She did a great job all day long. While we were doing the business stuff, she just sat down quietly and watched some cartoons on Robert's hand-held computer tablet. I was very proud of her. Especially since she just seriously started potty training last week and with the very busy day of driving 2+hours to and from Sacramento, not once did she have a wet diaper all day long yesterday!!! We are so proud of her!!

The house is really nice! There are just a few changes Robert and I would both make, but it's a really nice house. It's a lot smaller than all the other houses we were looking at, but it's about the same size at our house in Vegas. This house has a lot of closet/storage space which makes it very functional, so that's a big plus! I think Mercedes liked the house, too... =) Click on the video below.


I really like Sacramento. It's so old and the neighborhoods there are amazing!! Gorgeous old houses - talk about character!! Of course, our house isn't like that. C'mon - it was built in 1980! haha One of these days, though, maybe we'll have a 100 year old house! =)

We were driving around and I was talking to Robert saying that Mia needs to get better so she can come live with us in Sacramento so we can go for walks. Mercedes heard something about a walk, so she said "Mommy, what did you say walks for?" So I explained what I had said and she got a HUGE smile on her face, threw her arms in the air and said "Oh, that would be GREAT! Go for walks with Mia in the WAGON!! Aww, baby Mia...." I thought that was so adorable!

Mia is really doing very well! For the last 10 days or so, Robert especially has noticed that Mia is taking some breaths on her own!! Just a few, generally, but a few times we've noticed her breathing 10-15 breaths above the vent settings for 30+ minutes! We haven't seen that in a REALLY long time, so this is very encouraging!!

She's getting very interactive and really enjoys playing with her toys (especially the little cat toys Mom found at Target! Little plastic balls with jingle bells inside.) We hung the little balls on strings and attached them to her toy bar. She loves it. =) She's talking more and more over her trach, too, which we haven't heard in a while!

Mia had a quarterly review two weeks ago. As far as her respiratory view, it hadn't changed too much. BUT they are VERY pleased with her neurological progress! =)

All the kids at CRC are getting their flu shots, but since Mercedes is highly allergic to eggs and there's always a good chance siblings could have the same allergies, I didn't want Mia getting her shot unless shew as tested for egg allergies. They tested her and she's not allergic to eggs, which is great!! They didn't test her for anything else, but of course we're praying she's not allergic to food - or at least different things than Mercedes is! =)

Mia is getting a lot stronger. She's holding her arms and legs up for much longer periods of time and she's getting really good about moving her head around, in very controlled movements. She's not at floppy, althrough, she's still rather weak especially when she's sitting up. But, an improvement is an improvement!! =) I'm always proud of her!

Robert and I are doing well... the weekdays apart aren't too bad, thanks to phones, texting, chatting online and now Skype (video chat)! I've actually been sick for the past week and wasn't able to see Mia last Tuesday, Thursday or Friday. I had a really weird sore throat, then it turned into an occasional cough, then I was fine. Then that night my chest started getting congested and I've been congested ever since. I feel better this morning, but I'm not sure if I still need to go to the doctor or not. I really don't want to get meds, but this cough just isn't very productive which kind of worries me.

On Friday, I had missed Mia so much that I HAD to see her! I knew I couldn't go in, but I decided that when Robert got there, I'd have him visit with her in her rooms so I could stand outside by the window and see her, too! That's actually not a bad way to visit! On Saturday I was given the OK to come in, but with a mask, so that's how I visited Saturday and Sunday. I wasn't able to visit yesterday because I got home late from Sacramento, but I plan on seeing her today.

After spending so much time with just Mercedes last week, when I finally got to hold Mia, she felt so light and tiny!! She's about 16 pounds, which isn't too off from what most 9 month olds are, but compared to my biggest baby girl, she felt so little! =) I loved holding her!

On Saturday, Robert took Mercedes and I to Half Moon Bay for the day. We went for a beautiful long drive, had lunch at a restaurant, walked on the pier, then took Mercedes to a Pumpkin Patch for the first time! (I don't think there ARE any in Vegas!) It was a great day!! =)

You can pray that the closing cost money gets wired to the title company in time today, because if it does, the transaction will get recorded today - we will close on the house! Robert MAY be getting the keys tonight if all goes well! If not tonight, then tomorrow. I guess he's going to look into beginning to stay there on Monday - IF he can get some internet. An empty house without people or internet can be very boring! =)

Continue keeping our family in your prayers!

God bless you all,
Rachael <3

Friday, October 23, 2009

Hmmm...

I'm not sure why there isn't a link to the story, but I'll post it here so you can see it. I guess you have to click "I Like This" to vote for my story. I'm not exactly sure, but I think if I get a certain amount, I get a $100 gift card to Kohl's. =)

"I've gotten a few sweet deals at Kohl's, but this is, by far, the best deal yet! Last winter when I was pregnant, I really needed a jacket, but I didn't want to spend money on a maternity jacket that I'd only be able to wear for a few months. I found this beautiful corduroy jacket that was regularly $80.00 but on sale for $39.99. I thought that was a great deal, so I decided to buy it! Little did I know, it rang up $24.99 at the register AND I had a Kohl's Cash Card that I got in the mail for $10.00 off! I got the jacket for $14.99! Sweetness!"

I'll post a real blog later today about our family. =)

Rachael

Check out this entry I found on Raise Your Receipt.

I Like This!


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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Some new pictures!

Robert bought me a laptop for my birthday and I'm so excited to be able to sit in bed to write this!! I really thought I'd be able to update this more frequently, but time still runs out.

I thought I'd share some new pictures while I'm feeling motivated! =)

Yesterday, Robert and I took Mercedes to see Toy Story and Toy Story 2 in 3-D in the theatre. She had never been to the theatre before, so she didn't know what to expect! (A few months ago, I had written saying that Mercedes was supposed to see Curious George in the theatre with my Mom, but when they got to the theatre, the movie wasn't playing, so she never saw it.) She loved the movies, which was good! She had seen Toy Story a few times when she'd visit her buddy Noel in Vegas, but just recently we finally bought it, so she LOVES watching it at home! She had never seen the second movie before, but she really liked it! Did she like wearing the glasses? Not so much! She wore them for about 10 minutes total. She was probably wondering why the movie was blurry! =) Anyway... she likes wearing the glasses now at home! Silly girl. =)

Here are a couple of my very favorite pictures of Mia from the last week! =) I just had to show them to you all!! =)


I added several more to my facebook album, so if you'd like to see them, click here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127087&id=614762171&l=a4e0dd8916


Here's a picture of the house we got the accepted offer on! =) Once everything is final, we'll take you on a "tour" of the house!

That's it for tonight!

Goodnight,
Rachael

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Excited!

OUR OFFER ON THE HOUSE WAS ACCEPTED!!! We're in contract now and hopefully we'll find out very soon when we'll be able to move in!!! We are sooo relieved that the search is now over and ironically, this is the best house Robert has found!
- It's older (not as old as we'd like, but at least it's not brand new!) in an established area
- It's not a short sale, so there's no waiting to hear from the banks to see if they're willing to take the loss.
-It's a "flip" house meaning it was recently purchased, the people fixed it up and are selling it for profit, so there's NO work for us to do!!!
-There weren't any offers on it, so ours was the first. We made a requirement that they'd get back to us in 24 hours or less.
-We offered the asking price. This is the first time we did that because all the other houses had multiple offers. This house is about $30k less than the other houses we were looking at, so that's another huge blessing!
-We got a great interest rate, so that's another blessing! =)

Mercedes and I are still going to stay down in San Jose for the time Mia is at the Children's Recovery Center, but I'm sure we'll go up to Sacramento for 5-7 days at a time every once in a while. Meanwhile, Robert will still be coming down to San Jose every Friday night and goes back up to Sacramento Monday mornings, so we're always together on the weekends. It's obviously not the most ideal situation, but it's working for us! =)

Mercedes and I are definitely excited to see our new house! =)

Continue to pray that everything will go smoothly.

Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers - we are so grateful for all of you!

Mia is doing well - still nothing has changed much as far as her breathing goes, but she's getting so much stronger!! She has a lot more lower body strength than she does upper body strength, but even then, she's come a LONG way! Her mind seems to be fine, it's just getting her body to do what she wants it to do is the problem. She's just so adorable - I can't get enough of my baby girl!!! =)

Keep Mia in your prayers, too!

Have a great weekend!

Rachael, Robert, Mercedes and Mia <3

Thursday, October 1, 2009

We're still alive!

Sorry I haven't written in a while... everything's well!

Mia has some issues over the past 2 weeks - she's been unable to be lowered on her vent settings, so she's been on the same settings for about a month.

She's had some weird desats (can't retain her oxygen level), then has to be bagged. They have to work on her for about 10-20 minutes, then for whatever reason, she's perfectly fine! It's really strange. They did a chest xray to see if there was anything going on, but it was completely normal, so that's good!

She will be seeing a pulmonologist sometime soon to see if there is anything the doctors and RT's are missing at CRC.

She did have a seizure about 3 weeks ago and after her phenobarbitol level check in her blood was low, they changed her dose to twice a day. She hasn't had another breakthrough seizure yet, so that's really good! Hopefully they'll be able to find the exact dose she's requiring so they're not over-medicating her.

Robert bought me a laptop for my birthday, so I'm so excited to be able to use it in the trailer and not have to wait in line... or hold up the line in the house with my family! =) I'll be able to write updates much more frequently and I'm excited to do so! =)

Please keep us in your prayers both for our health and Mia's healing and also for our house purchase. Robert did put in another offer last night and we're trying not to be too excited about it... don't want to get disappointed again! =) Pray God will show us the house that will be our home! =)

Off to see the SF Giants play their last game of the season!!

Blessed,
Rachael <3

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Video of Mia playing with a toy



Click on the video to see Mia play with her toys! It's so cute to see her bat at them... and this was the first time I had ever seen her grab one! She's getting so much better developmentally each day!

Enjoy,
Rachael