Photos & A Bit of News

Hiya --

We are enjoying a beautiful fall here in New Hampshire! Jamie is in full-swing with kindergarten, which has brought me back to the world of Monday-Friday. Sadly, for someone with ADD like me, it's a good thing. The structure helps me out a bit! :-) The major downside is that Annie thinks she should be going to school, too. Every few days or so, I need to talk to someone at Jamie's school (I do a tiny bit of freelance work for them). On those days, Annie gets to get out of the car with Jamie and me and goes into the classroom. The amazing teachers at BYPC don't miss a beat -- they always put something in front of Annie or help her get involved in some way. So, it's near disaster when I have to pull her away from a puzzle or art project. It's only mildly less disastrous on the days when Annie DOESN'T get out of the car with Jamie. She still lets her displeasure be known on those days, believe me! (As a side note: I am not ready for Annie to go to school at all! I won't be putting her in preschool anytime soon, if I can help it!)

Nothing has changed medically -- we have not seen a cardiologist since April (hard to believe) and Annie is not swallowing solids yet. The MRI has been scheduled for this Tuesday, and they are planning an echo at the same time (while she is sedated and STILL). Annie has been coughing like crazy lately, though, so I am going to call her nurse practitioner tomorrow and just check-in with her. I want to make sure Annie should go forward with sedation, tubation, and all the rest of it. As much as I hate the idea of postponing the echo (the familiar butterflies are in residence in my stomach as I wonder if there are any surprises lurking ...), I want to make sure Annie is healthy enough for it. She sounds terrible, and we don't know what to think. Is it a cold of some sort? Is it aspiration-related? We don't know! If it were just the MRI, I would postpone it without a second thought ... but I want that echo! (I always say it's the things you don't worry about that jump up and bite you on the a**, so watch the MRI bring back some interesting results .... LOL)