Day 85

Thank goodness, no water fights to report today.

Marissa crawled in bed with me at 9:15 this morning when Tom dropped her off. It was so nice to cuddle with her. She spent the day with us today -- helped one of the nurses, Leslie, out a bit. Leslie took her to X-ray with her and she pushed all the buttons to open the doors on the way there and back. She also helped put a little baby back in her crib. She's had a busy day! We took a trip to the gift shop, of course, and had to purchase a few goodies. She was such a good girl today . . . as she always is.

Dr. T popped in about the time the tornadoe warnings were issued. I told him he couldn't leave until after the tornadoes had passed so he could protect us and his Berlin Heart. He said, "Bailey's not going anywhere - the Berlin Heart will hold her down." (That thing weighs about 150 pounds, I hear.) And he didn't seem to be too worried about the rest of us. But he did hang around a little bit. Knowing him, he actually was worried about the thought of a tornadoe. Marissa hadn't yet talked to Dr. T as of this afternoon, despite several attempts by him in the past weeks to get her to do so. So he gave her a nickname today . . . Teller. Have you heard of Penn and Teller? They're a comedy team and I guess Teller is the guy that doesn't speak. Then, a few hours after he established the nickname, he walked through our door, looked straight at Marissa, and said, "Hello!" And she said, "Hello!" He stopped in his tracks. "Did that come out of your mouth?" Now I guess he has to call her Penn. Haha! So, they then had quite the little conversation going. When she wasn't talking to him, I told him not to worry too much about it because, if he remembered, he made Bailey cry the first 3 times he spoke to her. At least Marissa wasn't crying!

Tom brought Josie by tonight and she and Marissa are spending the night. We're having a little slumber party. We've got our beds made and are going to fix popcorn here in a minute. Colin still can't have visitors, but he and Bailey have been passing notes (delivered by the nurses, parents, or whoever they can flag down) all day long. Bailey made him a necklace. It's really cool. Very manly looking.

The plan is to switch Bailey's Berlin Heart out on Wednesday of next week. Just a new computer and big blue box - no surgery involved. I understand it's just a matter of unplugging from the old and plugging into the new. (The one she now has is going on 5000 running hours and is due for maintenance.)

I'm going home in the morning, so I'll catch you again Sunday evening. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! I hear it's going to be cold.

Love, Angie