School's Out

Wow - this is a great year! Nearly 7 months out from surgery and no rhythm problems. Yeah!!! We are enjoying every single day. We are finding the good in everything. We aren't doing any sports right now - no soccer or softball or basketball - so we get a lot of family time together. Josie just got home from a 4-day trip with her cousin, and I missed her! Bailey and Riss and I were watching our new favorite show this week (So You Think You Can Dance) and it just really hit me how it must have felt for Josie and Riss to be without me and Bailey for 6 months and then again for 6 weeks last fall. That must have been hard! Rissy simply said, "It was!"

Bailey and Riss and I went to the library yesterday morning to try to find a little bit more challenging books for Riss to read -- we went to Borders Friday night for some books to take on our long airplane ride coming up and Riss already went through those books like they were candy! (Junie B. Jones books) I told her I wasn't buying any more books but we'd go to the library and try to find some with a little more substance that she will enjoy reading. Well, Bailey was trying to help her find something and, for some reason, it seemed like everything we picked up had something to do with dealing with death. Riss finally said, "I don't want to read anything about anybody dying or fainting." (I don't know where the fainting came from.) Bailey got a little irritated with her and I said, "Bailey, think about it. She has a sister who has been critically sick these past 3 years and I think that might just hit a little too close to home." It's really interesting to see some of the effects of our extended hospital stays and Bailey's critical illness coming out on occasion. I know it affected us as a family, but to see its effects so clearly shows me just how deeply it affected us as a family and each of us individually. This also makes me very excited for Bailey's Make-a-Wish trip coming up next week. The girls are so excited and I'm so very grateful that we all get to participate in this trip as a family. If any of us were left out, it just wouldn't feel right.

Speaking of our trip, we leave next Tuesday (the 17th) and return the following Tuesday. This is going to be a trip of a lifetime. Trust me, I'll take LOTS of pictures. There's a mountain 10,000 feet in elevation that we had to check with Dr. Darragh to see if it would be wise to venture to the top of. He said we'd just have to try it. If Bailey started feeling light-headed or had difficulty breathing, we'd just have to turn around and drive back down. And Josie and I found this hike through a bamboo forest to a waterfall that we'd like to do, but it's uphill and about 5 miles round-trip. I don't know if it will be too rigorous for Bailey to undertake but we're resolved to simply trying it and, if it's too much, we'll just rest and turn around. We're taking lots of water and lots of snacks and are prepared for an incredibly exciting week in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. We got a map out and showed Marissa just how far exactly Hawaii is out in the middle of the ocean - and how small it is - and her eyes got really big. It's so fun to see the expression on little faces when they see things for the first time. I have a feeling this trip will be full of those expressions - both on little faces and on the "big old adults", as Bailey likes to call us. I haven't warmed up to that phrase yet.

Bailey gets her driver's license this Friday. Nope. Still not warmed up to that idea either. She's improved quite a bit having driven for the last year and really is a very good driver, but I'm still not there. This is hard. I know she has to do it, and she'll be driving out there all by herself before long, but I'm not liking it. I want to deny her this opportunity, but I just can't do that to her. We did sit down yesterday and ordered her a medical ID tag with her medical information on it. That might make me feel a little better - we'll see. I doubt it.

On to better things, she finished up second semester with A's and B's, and only has 1more week of her biology class to wrap up her first semester, and she's got A's and B's there too. I am competely impressed with her doing 1st and 2nd semester simultaneously this year. And I'm very thankful to her school counselor and her teachers who met after school with her and came over to our house to help her get through her work. Last time we saw Dr. Darragh, he said, "You know, we put you in a very difficult position last fall with your school, and I'm proud of you that you've been able to work hard and get all caught up." Bailey just beamed! She has so much respect for him. And he fixed her belly button! She had a herniated belly-button after all that fluid she had last year and, of course, it could have been fixed with surgery but since no one wanted to do that, he told her to wrap an ace bandage around her belly to poke her belly button in and allow her muscles to shrink back in and eventually it would keep her belly button in. And it worked! She wore it daily for about 4 months and she's now ready for her 2-piece bathing suit. She's so excited! And keeps saying "I love Dr. Darragh!" Haha!!

Have I ever mentioned that I have the best girls in the world?!

Just wanted to give you an update before we leave. You'll have a full report upon our return - complete with pictures!

Have a great summer, everyone!

Angie