Well, well, well.. I have been threatening a blog site for some time and when I realized how easy (and free) it was I knew the time had come. This site will house a variety of blogs. Mostly, it is going to be for family photos and updates; however, for those that know me (or have seen my myspace) you know that I love to write my epiphany blogs as well. So.. there will be some of those every now and then.
So to begin with I'll give you the latest scoop on us crazy Simards.
First Jon... he has gone off the deep end but is the idol of neighbors and crossing guards alike. Our house looks like something out of a horror movie but I am certain it will grab us some gift cards when we take first place in the Halloween decorating contest yet again...
Aside from that he is still managing for Costco. He actually has a schedule I can live with these days and it's nice. It may have taken us almost 10 years but it seems we are finally establishing some sort of home life routine. OH crap.. We're growing up!!!
Next on the list is Avalyn. Avalyn turns 6 on Halloween and is jumping out of her skin with anticipation for her birthday and Halloween.
Avalyn just finished her first round of soccer and it seems she is hooked. Not to mention, she is really good. Must be those long legs of her's but she kicks some bootay at the defense. I can't wait for the warm weather and soccer time to return.
Avalyn seems to be at the end of this "freak illness" as I have resorted to calling it. For those that haven't heard the whole story, right before we left for California last month she came home from school complaining her legs hurt real bad and that she had mosquito bites all over. Turns out they weren't mosquito bites. We took her in the following day (the day before we were to leave for California) and (Thank God) they diagnosed her within ten minutes. She has what's called Henoch Schonlein Purpura. The condensed version of what that is goes like this: is a systemic vasculitis (inflammation of blood vessels) ...
Typical symptoms include palpable purpura (small hemorrhages in the skin), joint pains and abdominal pain. Most cases are self-limiting and require no treatment apart from symptom control, but the disease may relapse in a third of the cases and cause irreversible kidney damage in about one in a hundred cases.[1] The exact cause of Henoch-Schönlein purpura is unknown, although it may occur after certain viral and bacterial infections, as well as an adverse drug reaction to some medications. (Wikipedia, 2008). "
HSP typically lasts 4 -6 weeks and we are rounding out week 6 and the rash seems to have disappeared. I should back track a minute and explain that Avalyn has had "kidney involvement" on this illness. Nothing major, but her urine tests have come back with blood in them and then it went away and then it came back with a vengance. It seems to have cleared again but she will continue to have her kidneys checked regularly for at least one year.
The current situation is that last week's test came back 100% clear (HOORAY) and she will be tested again tomorrow. If tomorrow's is clear than we get to wait a whole month (as opposed to the current weekly testing) before having them tested again.
Meanwhile, as Avalyn is great at.. this entire time she has been in fantastic spirits about the illness. In the beginning (while we were in California) she had the swelling and arthritis (another complication of HSP) bad and she still went on as if everything was peachy. She's a trooper, that's for sure.
She's also joined a Girl Scouts' Daisies Troop and loves it! Stay tuned for cookie sales in January!!!
On to little Miss Piper. Piper is about to hit 11 months and (thank goodness) is not walking yet. She is crawling, standing and is likely to walk any day. She's still the little sweetheart she's been since birth but I think she is starting to get the family sense of humor even. She only says a few words but babbles on full conversations with everyone. She's still a little runt... fitting into her 6-9 month clothes still which is hard when it's time to buy winter clothes but I have no clue what sizes to buy.
Not much else to report on Piper. She's cutting teeth like crazy and miserable when that's happening but otherwise she is a good baby. And when she's not being good, that smile and her cuddles make up for it.
And a little about me... I'm in my 4th block of classes through University of Phoenix and they are kicking my butt. I finally lost that 4.0 I've been braggin about thanks to (go figure) my tourism class. So at a 3.83 I'm scared in my current classes. I stink horribly at Environmental Science and Cultural Diversity is a little whacky too. But.. I'm getting there.
After school I am still madly addicted to Photoshop and digital scrapbooking. I am doing my best at this domestic life.. but I am sure I could be doing a lot more.
Well... stay tuned and I'll be getting pictures up soon.
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