Coloring Eggs

Um... what's all this?

I guess I'll start with this one. Shall I put it in here?

This little metal hookie thingy sure is tricky, but I'll get it.

Ooh, well that IS fascinating.

That one looks about done. I'll just reach in and get it out.

And then I'll give it a kiss and a hug.

Ok, I'll kiss this one, too.

So pretty.

I'd say our first egg coloring experience was a success.

Why I Like Today

Click Me.

One Heck of a Good Day

There are SO many reasons why I loved today. Allow me to share some with you.

Tim didn't have to work! It's the first Sunday in MONTHS that's he's been able to spend with us. Loved it!

It's Easter, which is an entire different post, just know it was THE best one EVER!

I received yet another e-mail from someone considering donating their kidney to Tim. At the end of her e-mail she let us know our family would be in her prayers... Over the last little while I've felt an overwhelming feeling of peace in this matter. I attribute that to the prayers of those who are thinking and praying for our little family during this time. Thank you.

As for my favorite part of today. We were in my grandma's back yard. I looked across the yard and saw this.
Alyssa with her daddy on the teeter-totter. Such a sweet Daddy.

My Little Nail Technician

This, seriously, is one of the greatest things I have witnessed.

Cute Aunt Misty, what a great sport!

I think she did a pretty good job, don't you?

THANK YOU!!!

Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU!!! We are so incredibly grateful to everyone this last week. The response we have gotten from the previous post and email we sent out was more than I could have hoped for. We've received many phone calls from friends and family wishing us well and keeping us in their thoughts and prayers. E-mails have come in from complete strangers wishing us the same, and some considering donating a kidney to Tim. And that's not even talking about the serious networking that's happened here. This message is now on Facebook, MySpace and SO many different blogs. So we thank you, SO MUCH, for helping us to spread the word and find Tim a kidney. Update time. Good news. Tim's kidney function has improved by about 2%! I wish this was the way it would go forever, all the way back to a fully functioning kidney, but unfortunately that's not how this disease works. What it DOES mean, is that dialysis will wait! YAHOO!!! Something is going our way and we. are. thrilled. Now for "The Plan." We still need to find a donor as quickly as we can (which, HUGE side note here, one person has already gone to have blood work done and we SO can't thank them enough for taking that step. It is huge and we are tremendously grateful.) so at Tim's next appointment, depending on where his levels are, we are as prepared as we can be. Hopefully we'll have found a match so we'll be able to schedule the transplant and not have to start dialysis. There you have it folks. Thank you, again, for all your kind comments and phone calls, and for the thoughts and prayers being sent up on our behalf. We appreciate it more than you know.

We Love YOUR Guts!

Kidneys especially. About 5 years ago, Tim was diagnosed with Kidney Failure. We were surprised, but not shocked because 2 of his siblings also have kidney failure and have had to have transplants. Over the last 5-ish years, Tim has been seeing a nephrologist regularly every 3-6 months as requested by his doctor. They've monitored his B.U.N. and creatinine levels closely and determined late last summer that transplant time was getting close. We then met with a transplant coordinator, social worker, financial coordinator and surgeon. 13 vials of blood were drawn and labs ran. The goal for Tim during this time was to have him ready for transplantation before it became necessary for him to go on dialysis. This included, for us, finding a living donor. We've talked to many people about donating their kidney to Tim. Not asking anyone specifically, but just throwing it out there so people know what's going on and if it's something they would be willing to do, we'd be willing to take them up on it. So many have said it's something they would think about, and we appreciate SO MUCH that they would even consider it. At Tim's appointment today, his doctor had his name put on the waiting list for a kidney. Within the next week or so, we'll have the results of his blood work to know if he'll need to start dialysis. (His last labs read that he was at 12% kidney function, dialysis usually starts around 10% funcion.) As he has been feeling pretty good, we're hoping dialysis will be put off for a few more months. This is where you come in. Have you seen the billboard on the highway that says something like "Donate a kidney/car to the kidney foundation"? Well, if you've been thinking "hmm... I have this spare car lying around, but I also have a spare kidney.... what to do... what to do..." We'd like to encourage the kidney donation. :) Here's what you do. Call Cathy at 801-507-8311 or 801-507-3380. Cathy is Tim's transplant coordinator. She'll schedule a time for you to get a work up done to see if you're a match for Tim. What you need to know. Tim's blood type is A+, however, if you are A+ OR A- you can still be a match. If the sub-grouping is necessary, it will be determined later on. Recovery time for the donor is 4-6 weeks on average. You would be in the hospital for 5-7 days. You can't drive for 2 weeks or lift anything over 20 lbs for 3 weeks. Either our insurance or Medicare covers both the donor surgery and the recipient surgery, so there is no out of pocket cost for you. That's it. So now if you're thinking "I only have one kidney... I'm diabetic... I'm the wrong blood type... I hate hospitals... I'm terrified of needles... Tim? Who's Tim?" I have one more teensy weensy favor to ask to help us out. For all you bloggers out there. Link us! Copy this and post it to your blog, put a link, copy and email to friends and family, whatever. But please help us spread the word and find some new guts for my hubby. If you do decide to be tested, please e-mail me at tim_and_cas@yahoo.com so we can follow up with the coordinator. Whew! If ya got through all that, THANK YOU!

Favorite Flicks

After reading this, you'll probably think my child spends a lot of time in front of the tv. What you have to realize about this little monkey is that she only sits still for about 10 minutes at any given time. So we can turn on a movie, she'll watch the first little bit, run off and play, pop back in and watch some more, then run off to play again. Quite convenient for me, because then I don't have to worry about her losing brain cells because all she does is watch tv. Anyway, on to the favorites.

First off we have The Little Mermaid. I'm thinking she was 11 or 12 months old when we started watching this over and over and over. One day when I had just turned it on she said "Bird!" and started frantically doing the sign for bird, followed by "Boat!" and signing boat. I was like "What the heck? You know the signs for bird and boat?!" Signing Times was starting to pay off. Pretty soon she had the show memorized. Any time a song was about to start she'd scream "DANCE!" and she'd start doing this little bob-up-and-down dance. It never got old watching her watch the movie and dance. Next off we had a tie between Monster's Inc., and Finding Nemo. Whenever Monster's would start she would tell us "Shh, baby sleeping." Then of course, right before the first monster comes on, Alyssa starts screaming and running around in circles. Then there was A Bug's Life. My aunt was watching Lys one day, and of course we had to bring our favorite movie to aunt Tam's. They were both sitting in the rocking chair when the grasshoppers arrived. Tammy snuggled up next to Lys to "keep her safe" from the mean bugs, and what does Alyssa do? "BOO!" and starts laughing her head off at the grasshoppers stomping through the ant hill. Here's aunt Tam, trying to protect the little girl and here's Alyssa, trying to scare aunt Tam. Her next addiction was the Pixar short film, Lifted, that's on before Ratatouille, referred to by Alyssa as the "bonk head" movie. If you haven't seen it, you must watch it to really understand what I'm about to share. It's a little flick about an alien-in-training trying to abduct a sleeping human. It shows the human all lined up to be lifted out of the window when the alien hits the wrong button and bashes the poor guys head in to the wall. As the struggling alien attempts to get the man out of the house, he keeps throwing him all over, tossing his body from the ceiling to the floor and into the walls... you get the picture. Anyway, Alyssa acts this entire scene out. She throws herself EVERYWHERE, "bonking" her head on to pillows, the bed, the floor, all the while laughing hysterically. The "Bonk Head" movie. Probably my favorite to watch HER watch. Now we must not forget Annie. She pulled it off the shelf one day and asked to watch it. I'm thinking, this isn't animated... she's not going to watch it... I'm going to be back in her in 1 minute turning on something else... are you sure kiddo? She loved it. And pretty soon she was saying "Miss Hanngen scary, be nice!" (pretty good pronunciation, if you ask me, of Hannigan.) We had also taken this movie up to aunt Tammy's and had left it there for a few weeks. Our next trip up when Alyssa saw it she said "Hi Annie, oh Annie, hi Annie!" and continued telling her long lost friend hello throughout the movie. My all time favorite moment during this particular era was calling Sandy, Annie's dog. Alyssa came into my scrapbook room, leaned over and started patting her little knees and says to me "come here, Sandy, here Sand... COME HERE MOMMY! Here mommy! Come here!" I about wet my pants right then and there. That girl! Calling her mommy like you call a dog! As for the reason this post was written, our current favorite film, one we put on at least once a day, two or three times a day since we've been sick over the last week, is not one that I ever thought would be a favorite of hers. I still haven't ever seen it all the way through, mostly because in the first 5 minutes I had decided I couldn't stand watching it, but now that I have seen more it's growing on me and I actually find it funny. That movie is Elf. That's right, Elf. Will Ferrell, grown man in tights, Elf. Tim thinks this is absolutely the most fantastic thing, that Alyssa is in. love. with this movie. I don't know what it is that captures her attention, but she loves it.