Fall is my favorite

Fall is by far my favorite season! I love the colors, the crispness in the air. I love college football and cooking entire meals in the crock pot. I eagerly anticipate the return of the pumpkin spice latte at Starbucks each year. This year is different. I just can't seem to get into the fun of fall. Maybe it's because we're here all alone, or maybe it's because we aren't able to participate in any of the traditional fall activities. Fresh produce is a big no-no so that means apple picking and pumpkin patches are out. Maybe it's because Peter isn't here with us or because Mike and I decided not to get Halloween costumes for either of the kids this year. It just doesn't make sense, Olivia can't go trick-or-treating and Peter isn't here with us. I have yet to find a Starbucks drive through and since I can't bring Olivia inside a Starbucks I have yet to have my first pumpkin spice latte of the season.

We have such good memories of pumpkin picking and halloween fun last year that I've decided I'd rather enjoy those memories than make new ones of this fall.

Easy to Assemble

After months of Olivia sleeping in a hospital bed with me right by her side just a few feet away we're all having a little trouble adjusting to our new sleeping arrangements.

When Amy was here we got a bed rail to install on Olivia's bed. Amy and I figured that as two reasonably intelligent adults we'd be able to put the bed rail together in a few minutes. Especially since the packaging promised easy assembly.



We opened the box to find a jumbled mess of parts but still we were confident we would be able to figure it out.



But when we located the instructions and found the phrase below we knew we were in for it...



Any time the instructions begin by telling you to "Take a Deep Breath" you know it's bad news. It took Amy and I almost an hour to put together this "easy to assemble" bed rail.

Photo Slide show of Olivia's Duke Journey

Here's the link to a slide show I created of Olivia's Duke Journey. You may notice that the music is especially catchy! The song was created especially for Olivia by the Songs of Love Foundation. If you would like to get your own copy of Olivia's song (and support Songs of Love) you can go to www.songsoflove.org then click on the Family and Friends Song and Ringtone Download link. You will need to type in our Last Name and then the Record Number is 19781.

Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Day +72 and pictures to come

I love the weekends! So far we've been so lucky and Mike has been able to come visit every weekend. I know it's stressful to him to have to rearrange his schedule so that he has weekends free but it makes a world of difference. It's so nice to have someone else to unload the dishwasher or wash the syringes that we use for Olivia's oral meds. It means I can take a shower in peace without Olivia's "assistance". It means I'm able to make a leisurely trip to the grocery store. On Friday Mike was able to leave work a little early so I was able to run out and get Olivia some long-sleeve shirts. When I packed her clothes to come here I remember looking at her winter clothes and I carefully decided not to pack them. North Carolina isn't as cold as Washington and I remember telling myself that we'd be settled at Ft. Bragg before she would need them. Obviously I was wrong. I think we're getting close but we're not there yet. It's been a little chilly lately and Olivia only has summer clothes. I was able to find the cutest little navy blue coat at Old Navy for Olivia for only $8.50. I also got her a couple long sleeve shirts and some pants and I'm hoping that will take us through until we're able to move to Ft. Bragg and be reunited with all of our clothing.

Olivia is still going to clinic on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. They keep talking about changing that to just twice a week but now that Olivia has her port they have to do blood draws in the clinic. Since we are already in the clinic the consensus is that they might as well see us. Friday's appointment was seriously one of the fastest ever! We got to the clinic at 9am, the nurse accessed Olivia's port and drew the labs, then the nurse practitioner and nurse practitioner-in-training came in and checked Olivia out. They said that she's doing great! Olivia stopped taking her Cell-Cept (an immune suppressant) this week and she seems to be responding really well.

Now I'm enjoying some time to myself while Mike took Olivia for a jog. I can't believe the apartment is so quiet! I'm finally dedicating some time to posting some of the pictures from the last several weeks!