Nice and steady

It's been 2 weeks since I last blogged, and I've definitely heard from a lot of you that I need to get on the ball! Thank you, thank you, thank you for caring so much about our family. What blessings you all are.

Let's see...where to begin...I believe I last blogged that we were going to Bristol. It was very, very fun. We were only 2 of about 200 people who got to sit in the grandstands in the middle of the track. Only about 200 of 160,000 people got to sit in the infield, so we were very fortunate. We ate some great food, enjoyed the pit tours, relaxed under the Verizon Wireless VIP tent, and got complimentary scanners to listen to the drivers. Don't get me wrong - I really enjoyed myself, but I'm not exactly going to jump at the chance to go to another race sitting in the stands. I hear the other great place to enjoy a race is from a box - maybe that will be my next trip :) Here's a great memory from Bristol:



Gotta love NASCAR.

While we were at the race, Emma stayed with my in-laws in Honea Path. She went to their church and finally met in person so many of the people who have been loving her and praying for her from afar. Emma tells me it was a great weekend.

Last week was crazy busy (as is this week) for many reasons. Life with a 5-month-old is just nuts anyway, but Emma has a few more needs than your average 5-month-old. For example, she has an average of 4 appointments per week. During the day, she sometimes she stays at my parents' house and sometimes at ours, so I feel like I'm constantly packing her to go somewhere. Any of you with kids know that you have to do your best to prepare for anything and everything! Russell and I stayed at my parents' house for most of last week because I was working much closer to their house than my house. So we all moved out of the house for a while! In the midst of the temporary relocation, Emma had a good visit with Dr. Troup and some good, impressive therapy sessions as well. Dr. Troup feels good about Emma - I can't really say that he feels good about her progress because not a lot has changed...but at least she's not backsliding. His main fear, as I have posted before, is that he'll mess around with Emma by decompressing her Chiari malformation and unnecessarily cause her to take some backwards steps because she's still so young. So we're moving forward with a CT scan at the end of September and a follow-up visit with him at the beginning of October. We're just taking it nice and slow, steady as she goes...

If you'll remember, there was a lot of discussion about having MRI's of Emma's brain and spine. She'd have to be intubated for these, but she doesn't have to be for the CT. (Side note: Dr. Troup said she'd only have to be still for a couple minutes for the CT scan. Good luck with that.) The procedures can look at the same thing, but the MRI shows a lot more detail, and the images can be manipulated a lot more. So I guess Dr. Troup wants to compare this CT to a very old one and just see how things look now. One thing he DID comment on with confidence is that Emma's legs are really fat. He called them hams, actually.

I think Emma picked up a cold at Dr. Troup's office. She started getting really snotty mid-week last week. To be sick, she has been in a GREAT mood. Her eyes were watering, she choked more, and she didn't sleep well AT ALL for 3 nights. But overall, she's been a very happy baby. I really wish we could have gotten a picture of this, but the lighting was bad: Russell got her out of bed on Friday morning, and she smiled up at him with a huge toothless smile, so happy for her daddy to be getting her up...and her face was covered in dried boogers. Maybe it's only cute when it's your own child, but I can just imagine her innocently and happily grinning at her dad, totally oblivious to the crusty gross stuff on her face.

Even though she was sick, Emma had a good week. We were ready for a nice, relaxing weekend...and then the AC broke on Friday. We realized it was broken at closing time on Friday, so we were kind of stuck. We were all sweating it out, but only Emma got to hang out in her underwear and nothing else for 16 hours straight. You wouldn't believe how much we got accomplished on Saturday morning before 10:15, just trying to escape the sauna that was our house. We took Emma to Honea Path to hang out until we got the air fixed at 7:00 Saturday night. So far, it's still working...

This week has been ok - another reason life has been crazy is because of my job. Summertime is always the busiest time for us. Being out with Emma made things a little more difficult, and my coworker and friend, Leigh, has been taking care of her mom. Leigh's mom has been suffering from Alzheimer's for 12 years now (I think it's 12 - sorry, Leigh, if I got that wrong), and things have gotten really, really bad for her lately. So Leigh and I have been barely holding it together personally and professionally...I'm just ready to take a big, deep breath and feel like I've gotten something accomplished - at work, at home, somewhere. Leigh's mom passed away yesterday, August 31, at the age of 63. Please remember her family in your prayers. We all have the tendency to believe that after an extended illness, the recovery period for the family of that person is quicker...but I'm not so sure about that. I believe that God is the only one who can provide us with true peace, and I pray that He grants His peace to Leigh quickly and powerfully.

This weekend begins football season - Go Tigers! My parents are in Paris for the next 11 days, so Russell, my mother-in-law, and I are taking turns taking care of Emma. Of course, these 2 Saturdays that my parents are gone fall on two Clemson home games. My in-laws took the plunge and purchased a generator for our big ole tailgate party, so now we can power more than just a tv and a satellite dish. It is ONLY because of the generator that I'm considering taking Emma to tailgate on Saturday - the generator will power a giant fan that I'll be blowing on our hot-natured baby. I love all of you that we tailgate with, but I've got news for ya: the fan will be blowing on Emma. If you want to enjoy the fan as well, you are welcome to hold her while sitting in front of the fan. If she just gets too terribly hot, our wonderful Aunt Kathey has offered us the key to her house that is just minutes away from Death Valley. I'm totally ok with not going into the game, just as long as Emma is happy and comfortable underneath the tent and the trees.

Ok, I'm practically going cross-eyed now that I've tried to catch you up on our crazy, crazy life. Time for bed - I'll try my best to blog sooner next time.