The Thurber Gang

Ella was released from the Hospital yesterday. (Hooray!) She fell asleep on the drive home, and we moved her to her bed. When she woke up a couple of hours later, she was so disappointed to realize that she was still not feeling better. I think that she assumed when she got home, she'd feel great. . . She slept pretty great last night, waking up for just a little while and needing some snuggling. It was FANTASTIC sleeping in our own beds last night! Today she's as bright eyed as I've seen her in a long time. We've been told to let her gauge herself, but not to let her overdo things. It will be up to a week before she will be up to resuming all of her normal activities. It's so good to see her looking more and more like her normal self. . . she'll go to the outpatient clinic on Monday, and she needs one more test done sometime next week - one that's not so fun, so we just need to get these things out of the way, and then we'll be ready for SUMMER...

We're settling in for another night here at the hospital.  Michelle, I'm taking your advice and sleeping on the bed with Ella tonight!  Thanks for all of your prayers and thoughts - it's made a difference for us sitting here - Ella loves to read what people are saying - it puts a huge smile on her face.  Thanks, also for your visits - It took Ella's mind off of her aches and helped her find bright spots in her days. . . She was so lucky that her Auntie Tristin was coming this weekend for a show in Detroit, so she even got a visit from her tonight! I asked Ella what the best part of being in the hospital was - she said it was her ride in wheelchair to the ultrasound!  She was hurting so much that every bump made her moan, but she still had a huge grin on her face as she was being pushed through the big hospital. She had been asking all night for her sisters, and they did not disappoint.  The came twice today, so doting and loving.  They left her little notes to remind he...

Ella and I are snuggled up on her bed, watching "Veggie Tales".  Her sisters and dad just left. Thanks, Renee, for keeping the girls overnight tonight!   As for the update - she had an hour or so this morning that she was feeling much better.  She got up and walked around, played in the playroom for a while, but then we've had a rough afternoon again.  She *is* definitely improving, though.  We've got a frustrating situation with our insurance - we have an impossibly high deductible, so all of this will have to be paid out of pocket - it makes it all a little harder to swallow. . . she'll be getting her next dose of meds tonight, and then we're hoping that she can be discharged after that, with outpatient follow up. This is a classic example as to why socialized medicine can be preferred.  Of course there are pros and cons to both, but in the heat of the moment, not having to worry about how you're going to pay for the tests and bed and every other little ...

I'm sitting in an uncomfortable and VERY loud leather chair, with my legs up on Ella's hospital bed.  Yup - hospital bed.  She has been suffering for the past 6 days with terrible stomach pain, and a fever that bounced between about 102 and 104+.  She has been miserable, which has been miserable for the rest of us!  We'd had her checked by a couple of doctors over the weekend, as well as getting some tests done at an Urgent Care clinic - the general consensus was that she was fighting a nasty virus that could last 7-10 days.  But yesterday, her fever broke, and her pain SKYROCKETED.  She was screaming constantly for a couple of hours.  We had her seen by another doctor, and he recommended taking her to the ER, so that we could get tests done immediately.  After what seemed like a long time waiting (but would be a blink of an eye for a Canadian Hospital, I'm afraid!), and after 3 resident doctors plus one attending all pushed and prodded on Ella's belly, filling out ...

Perfect Dress It’s here in a student’s journal, a blue confession in smudged, erasable ink: “I can’t stop hoping I’ll wake up, suddenly beautiful,” and isn’t it strange how we want it, despite all we know? To be at last the girl in the photography, cobalt-eyed, hair puddling like cognac, or the one stretched at the ocean’s edge, curved and light-drenched, more like a beach than the beach. I confess I have longed to stalk runways, leggy, otherworldly as a mantis, to balance a head like a Fabergé egg on the longest, most elegant neck. Today in the checkout line, I saw a magazine claiming to know “How to Find the Perfect Dress for that Perfect Evening,” and I felt the old pull, flare of the pilgrim’s twin flames, desire and faith. At fifteen, I spent weeks at the search. Going from store to store, hands thirsty for shine, I reached for polyester satin, machine-made lace, petunia- and Easter egg-colored, brilliant and flammable. Nothing haute about this couture but my hopes ...

Alright, friends. I've been debating back and forth for months about keeping this blog public or going private. What are your opinions? If you've gone private, what motivated you to do that? If you're still public, why have you chosen to stay that way? I'd love any and all opinions as I'm trying to make this decision. . . Thanks!

Vivien and I took Roscoe for a walk today. Watching the two of them ahead of me just filled me with wonder. Summer and Childhood and Innocence personified. I just had to savor it. . .

I have thought about this post many, many times over the past year, but laziness (or lack of pictures of you all) has kept me from actually writing it. Last night as I was trying to fall asleep, I felt strongly about getting this out there. I am so grateful for all of the wonderful influences that my girls have - and there are many. Sometimes I feel sorry for myself and our little family for living so far away from our families. But we have been blessed beyond measure by the friends that we have made and have become our adoptive families. We have had phenomenal teachers, who have been more like aunts or grandparents (and sisters and mothers to Milo and I.) We have had friends that help in the best and worst of times. (Coming over dressed and ready to clean up tonnes of SEWAGE, or help me organize our losses definitely qualifies as the worst of times! Among many, many other things!) The love that we have for each of you is very real. Thank you for loving our children, for watchi...

Why can't moms call in sick? Or play hooky? Sigh. . . back to work. . .

My Gabriella Paige is *6* today. Love you, Belle. So glad that you are in our family.