Thanks for the prayers and the encouragement. It has been a very long week, but we are going home today! I must admit I am a little nervous to be leaving here. He is not 100% well yet, but the doctors think he is well enough to be home. He will continue on oral antibiotics and the breathing treatments. We have an appointment with his hematologist on Tuesday. I researched a lot. I even read medical textbooks at the University of Chicago bookstore. ultimately I think I read more than I should have maybe, I don't know. I read hard cold medical research, not the books that are softened for the parents. I am not fully letting myself feel anything about what I have read. I am just overwhelmed. I think we will start with hydroxyurea, the chemo, in a week or two. Hopefully it will cause enough positive change for us to hold off on monthly transfusions for at least a little while longer. I am tired and not quite as relieved as I usually am when he goes home, but I am looking forward to seeing my girls.

We have been in the hospital since early Sunday morning. My son is 4 and he has sickle cell disease. Sunday he woke with a temp of 104.5 and was having difficulty breathing. I rushed to the ER and we have been at the children's hospital since. He has acute chest syndrome which is a serious compication of sickle cell. He has had two blood transfusions in the past two days and is on a few IV antibiotics and regular breathing treatments. He spiked another high fever late last night so they did more labs at 2 this morning to see if he has a blood infection. Basically he keeps seeming to get a little better and then takes a turn for the worse. The hemetologist thinks it may be time to start him on monthly blood transfusions and/or hydroxyurea {an oral chemotherapy}. She is concerned because he has a high potential for stroke and has had several episodes with the sickle cell that have been life threatening. the treatments could help him, but they come with their own set of risks and side effects. It's a big decision to make. I am essentially choosing which risk factors we would most like to live with. I have no idea when we will get out of here. Thankfully it is an excellent hospital and my girls are being well cared for with friends from church. But a hospital can never feel like home.

Well, after 45 minutes of screaming, he finally said what is wrong. He said his tummy hurts and that he needs the hospital. I know it hurt a lot because his eyes were so wide and his screams were of pain. But the tylenol with codeine is calming him enough to sleep, so I am watching him and will hopefully avoid the hospital. I am a bit concerned about his gallbladder, so if he hurts in the morning, I will have to call his hemetologist to ask for an ultrasound.

My ds (4) with sickle cell woke up crying and crying. Nothing is comforting him. He says he doesn't hurt. He is coughing a little, but he doesn;t have a fever. I really hope he is not getting sick. I gave him tylenol with codeine because it just seems like he hurts even though he says he doesn't. I really don't need another week of isolation from a sick child. I really want him to just feel well again.

Parakeets can survive in the oddest of placest. We have parakeets in the wild in Chicago of all places. I see them every summer in rather large numbers.

This is my first attempt at a real garden instead of a little container garden on a balcony. I have raspberries, blackberries, and blueberries growing already. I will also be growing: 4 or 5 kinds of sweet peppers tomatoes cherry tomatoes cucumbers snow peas green beans sunflowers corn strawberries yellow squash zucchini watermelon cantaloupe lettuce lots of herbs mint

Congratulations! You can do it. Don't be afraid to ask questions at the beauty supply store to find out what kind of products will work for your girls. You will need a good shampoo, conditioner, a leave-in conditioner, and some type of grease or lotion depending on the hair texture. Then you need some good combs - a wide toothed comb, a rat-tail comb, and a finer toothed comb. Use the wide toothed comb to untangle the hair starting at the ends not the scalp. Work your way up gently in small sections. Use the rat-tail comb to pick out the braids and to part the hair. Use the finer toothed comb to comb through the sections after you have combed it with the wide toothed comb. I think twists are easier to learn than cornrows. Have you tried taking a small part of her hair and dividing it in two and twisting them together? You can secure each little section with a rubber band at the scalp or you can do it without the rubberband if her hair is coarse enough. twists were the first thing I learned. When I was practicing cornrows and they still looked sloppy, I used to cover them up with a weave. I got fake thin braids at the beauty supply store and crocheted them over the messy cornrows. they could show you at the store how to do it. It is as simple as latch-hooking, and my dd loved having "long hair." have fun with your dds! you can do it!

I have been asked if I am Renee Zellweger's sister. I don't know if it's accurate, but I did make sure not to cut my hair too short after hearing people say it didn't look right on her.

My children love AWANA. We just started one at our church in January. I have been volunteering with the Cubbies, and just stepped into the director position with Cubbies. I have one child in Cubbies, one in Sparks, and one in TNT. I think it has made them more enthusiastic about their faith. I love that it gives them one more place to ask questions and help make their faith thier own.

I adopted my dd when she was a baby. When she was 5 she started praying that she could meet her biological siblings. I didn't know who adopted them or where they lived. I took my dd to the first day of class at Ballet Chicago. When they called roll a lady came over and asked if I was N's mother. She then said she thought we may have adopted sibs. Sure enough, she had adopted my dd's brother. They now have a relationship with each other and have even found one more sibling.

I use one day a week for a variety of math activities. We may play a game from Family Math or other math games, use computer programs, or work with manipulatives and the workbooks to go with them. I gear the activities to whatever area each child needs extra practice in.

They have the charts posted upstairs and downstairs. I think the issue is we have a new 6 year old girl. She has only been here a week today, and I think it is much more interesting to talk and play with her than to follow the same old routines. Eventually they got out the door, but it had cooled down enough that we didn't stay long.

I am feeling really sad for a friend of mine who just miscarried. She has been a emendous encouragement and support to me, and I am trying to think of anything that could encourage her now. It just seems that anything that could be said or done is so small.

If we do adults only, I will need enough advance notice to try and find a sitter. I am a single mom, so my crew tends to go wherever I go, but a getaway would be nice.

This is getting ridiculous. The five of them have been so scattered and unfocused that they keep losing the things they need - like socks, a shoe, the baby's bottle. I decided I would not continually remind them to do their chosre. Today they left toys scattered and the house is a mess. They are discovering that they can't find anything when they don't do their responsibilities. Before long the trip to the park will be a complete loss. I hope maybe this will help them learn a lesson and choose to follow routines a little better.

Great idea! We will be there. I am in the city on the northwest side. Any of the places mentioned would be easy enough for us to get to.

My daughters names were chosen by their meaning. I also chose an African name for each of them since they are African-American. Anaya is and African name that means "look to God". Nidra is an African name that means, "rare and cherished." I kept their birth names as their middle names so they have a link to their history and a link to their forever family.

Apple cider vinegar with a few drops of dish soap works well. I put double sided tape over the top with a few inhes open in the center. They stick to the tape and they drown in the vinegar.

I want to read the site a friend forwarded to me, but the foont is very tiny. Does anyone know a way to make it bigger? Thanks!

Believe it or not but the Easter dress I just got my dd age 9 from TJ Maxx would be a lovely First Communion dress. There were only a few left since Easter is so soon, but a store like that may be worth a try. Depending on what cities are near you, you may find a dress at a store in a Latino community. Here in Chicago they have some beautiful dresses for little girls in our Latino communities.

This mother is simply cruel. I just heard from the other woman in the house. Apparently when the kids came home, mom popped all her balloons and told her since she already had her party she didn't need a cake or anything. She threw away her shoes because she said they were ugly. The little girl was so proud of her light up shoes. She took the shirt off the other one and threw it out too. Why, oh why, can't she allow her kids to be happy?

DCFS came for the girls today. It was one of the most rotten things I have had to be a part of. The 4 year old started crying and said, "No, please don't make me go back. I don't want to go! I don't want to go!" She said she was scared. The two year old started acting out terribly as soon as I told her she was going back. She even got a butter knife from the kitchen and started cutting her baby doll and calling it a B---. She tried to cut my dd with the butter knife. She was just plain angry and irritable. Then the CW came for them. The girls were crying and asking him not to take them back. I told him that the oldest was scared. He said, "We are not going to talk about that now." They were sobbing as he drove away, and the oldest was clutching a bag with party balloons, the party hats, and even the Dora tablecloth. What a way to have to celebrate her birthday. I feel numb and empty and tired. I told the oldest that when she feels afraid and needs to be safe she should tell an adult. she said that the adults just tell her, "I don't care." That's just what I felt DCFS was saying to her today. I just hope they are aggressive enough with their family preservation plan that they keep these girls safe.

I guess it is a good think we won't be doing schoolwork today. If I feed these guys cake and ice cream for breakfast, I don't think we will get much done. I have been caring for two little girls for the past two weeks and today one is having her birthday. I have a cake and all the decorations. Then last night, I get a call saying they will likely go back home to their mother today. :confused: I don't think that will help the truth to come out when they interview the children. They will be too scared to speak now. But my opinion does not count in this situation :glare:. I hope that they are not expecting me to drive to that house and return the children. Seems to me that the caseworker ought to do that. So, we are celebrating her birthday when she wakes up since she could well be gone by lunch. Hopefully she will at least have fun memories of the day to help her when times get harder again.

I have my ideals, the goals I aim for in ly lesson plans each year. Then there is real life. The fact is, a lot of the art and music just doesn't get done as often as I plan. I want to be more disciplined and actually accomplish these goals next year. I have curriculum picked out, but now I am hesitant to spend the money. If I use it, the investment is worth it. I just look at our schedule now and wonder how much of it I will actually use - especially the music. Maybe I will revise my plans and just use resources the library has and save some money. What do you all do regarding purchases when your ideals and your reality don't always match?

Praying and thinking of you. How did it go?