WOW, Has it been a year already?

Has it been a year already, since I last wrote??? I guess so.

So, what all has happened in a year? Let's start with March 2009 - Nothing really to report.

April 2009 -

Blake & Luke turned a year old. We put together a FANTASTIC party together. Safari themed and of course I don't have any of the picutres on my work computer. OH WELL!

May 2009 -

Dad had to have open heart surgery, a triple bypass. That was a really scary moment. . .not knowing if your Dad was going to be around anymore. But he came out doing excellent and was out of the hospital in 4 days.

June 2009 -

Nothing much to report.

July 2009 -

Nothing much to report.

August 2009 -

On August 2nd, we lost Uncle Sonny. But we know he is in a much better place. 10 days later we had our annual Family Reunion in Grenada, MS. This picture was taken after Uncle Sonny's memorial in Holly Springs, MS. This is the whole family, minus just a couple of us. This consist of 4 generations, of multiple families.

These are some more fun pictures from our reunion.

September 2009 - December 2009 -

Not much to report. I started going back to school to get my degree.

We celebrated Papaw Derrell's 77th birthday.

We celebrated Halloween.

Dale and I celebrated our 5th Wedding Anniversary.

We celebrated Christmas.

January 2010 -

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! We celebrated New Year's at Grandma Viola's house in Memphis.

February 2010 -

Not much to report.

March 2010 -

My 30th Birthday! We had a TOGA party! Had a blast.

March 20th, Papaw Derrell passed away. Even though it has now been a month, it is still hard to think of him not being here anymore. We was a terrific man. Nana is doing very well.

So. . .that has been our year. Things to look forward to. . .we found us a fantastic church, that we all enjoy so much. A great Sunday School class, that makes you look forward to the next and the boys LOVE their classes to.

The boys birthday party is this Saturday, so we are getting ready for that.

We are planning a trip to Michigan in June.

Camping Trip for Amanda's birthday over 4th of July weekend.

Landon starts Kindergarten in August (crying!)

And that is about it for now. . .

Elvis. . .Live in Concert

So last Friday night, my Maw-in-law calls me up and tells me that they are eating dinner early at one of Dale's favorite restaurants, and that they are having a concert tomorrow night, would we like to go? "Well, I guess. . .who are we going to see?" "Elvis!" WHAT?? So, I talk to Dale and he agrees, with me, we really need to get out of the house for a change of scenery.

So, we head to "Mexicali's" and eat dinner. Landon is totally excited because despite the fact that he is three, he really LOVES Elvis. We eat and then at 8:00 PM, the show starts! It was a BLAST!!! Two hours of pure fun and great music!

I thought it was great how "Elvis" used his ipod to get the music, but other wise had a great time.

I did manage to get a picture of me with Elvis, but my Tammy, my sister-in-law, has it (because my camera died!) and I hadn't had time to ask her for it! The best part of all. . .we are going to see him AGAIN!! FOR MY BIRTHDAY!! March 7th, "Elvis" live in concert! Can't you tell. . .Dale is so excited to see him again!

Update on Dad

Just a quick update on Dad, in case I haven't talked to you!

He checked in Wednesday at 12:00 noon to get started on his hydration. Of course, they didn't get him in a room until about 2:00 PM, so he was able to get some food.

They immediately hooked him up to an IV, heart monitor and blood pressure cuff. They did not give him any of his meds and at about 9:00 PM, when his blood pressure shot up to about 190/115, they decided that they might need to go ahead, or else give him a stroke. So, they took him down about 6:45 AM, but weren't able to start until 8:15 AM. He did good through the procedure and we were able to talk to Dr. Lam afterwards.

He basically drew this picture and told us this is what is going on. They were able to only use 1/5 of the dye then normal, which should decrease the amount of damage to the kidneys. But, back in 2002 when the doctor put the stints in his kidneys, he didn't place the left one in the right spot. They both should of been 3 mm, but instead he placed the right one at 5 mm, which didn't take. So, Dr. Lam was able to place another stint in the right kidney, which opened it up to allow blood through now. Unfortunateluy, with the left stint being in the wrong place, he was not able to get in there at all. So, what does this mean?

Well, this means that if the right kidney can't do the job, they will have to do a bypass on his left kidney. Dr. Lam is hoping that he won't have to do this, because he doesn't think Dad's heart can with stand the procedure.

So, in a month Dad has to go see Dr. Horn (the cardiologist) and see what they think the next step is. . .Dr. Lam said that if things weren't better in three months time, then we would have to procedure some how, or things will get worse, fast. . .

So, how is Dad feeling? He had to take nitro on Friday night. . .and he is still sleeping a lot, so honestly it doesn't look like anything has changed.

Will keep you posted. . .

Boy, am I glad it's Wednesday!

Am I glad that it's Wednesday? YES!! But I really wish it was Friday!





The beginning of my week has been really interesting! Monday, Luke decided to have an allergic reaction to his fruit of the day, Mango. So, his face turned really red with splotches, to the point where the day care called me to let me know, and to come get him.

Tuesday, was my dad's appointment with the renal specialists. Basically he told us what we already knew. . .his kidneys are still at 25% working together and that he is checking into Presbyterian Dallas today at 12:00 noon. Luckily this guy is just on the sidelines, so maybe we can get the real doctor in there to get things worked out. They are going to hook him up to an IV and start pumping him full of fluids, to keep his kidneys hydrated to prevent most damage.

Tomorrow at 7:30 AM, is when they do the procedure, and hopefully we will know something an hour after they take him back.

Until then, please pray for us. . .

Why are parents so stubborn?

Why are parents so stubborn at times?

Yesterday my Dad had an appointment with a Cardiovascular Surgeon; because he believes/feels that something is still very wrong, and since his blood pressure is still on the rise, we thought so to.

Friday he went to his cardiologist because the past two weeks, he has been having pressure/chest pains, and thought it was his heart. Dr. Horn again told him that it wasn't his heart, it is his kidneys, so he then referred him to Dr. Lamb.

Now, I wasn't at the appointment yesterday, but I did hear that this upfront, no bull-shitting, little Vietnamese guy walked in with cowboy boots on under his scrubs, (I can only imagine) and basically told my Dad that if anything was going to be done about his problem, it had to be NOW! That is how serious his condition is. He basically told him, that between the two kidneys, they were only working at 25% (together, mind you!). So, they went ahead and did a sonogram, then finally a cat scan.

Now all we can do it wait. He has to check in to Presby Dallas Wednesday at 4:00 PM to have the angioplasty done on his kidneys. Now remember back when this all first started, they didn't want to do that because the dye causes damage, well this is the test. But this is the only way we are going to find out what is going on. So, when he gets in on Wednesday, they are immediately going to start pumping him full of water, salt water and any other kind of hydrating they can do. If they do this, it will help the dye get out of his system faster. So, then Thursday they will do the test and hopefully we can find out what's going on.

Now in doing this test, it won't correct the damage that has been done, but hopefully we can conquer the blood pressure, chest pains/pressure and get things going smoothly. Now, the doctor didn't go into detail, but did say that doing this, there are some major risks. OK? But he then also said that if we didn't do this now, we would lose complete function of his kidneys in probably 6 months or less.

So, basically in Leslie terms, this means that they are going to do this test. . .possibly do more damage to where his kidneys will work less. . .and might not give us any answers! How do you respond to that?
Well, Leslie, Ph.D. started looking up information on transplants. My Dad gave me life, the best I can do is try to help him keep his! Now here is where the stubborn part comes in. . .He told me that he wouldn't take my kidney! Why? Because he is stubborn! Now I see where I get it!

So, my goal: If he needs a transplant, and I am a match, He WILL take my organ. If it will keep him around for the boy's first t-ball games, first cars, first girlfriends, graduations from high school and college, and weddings; I will fight him to the end!

the "Kookamonga"

As most people know, after Christmas my family and I went to Memphis to see my Grandmother and to set up her Christmas present, which was a new "digital" TV. There is this restaurant downtown, my Grandmother and I have been wanting to go to for years, that has the "Kookamonga," which is a 7 lb. hamburger.

This is what the "Kookamonga" looks like. 4 lbs. of ground beef, with 2 lbs. of homemade bun. Then you add a pound for the trimmings, (cheese, lettuce, pickle, tomato and onions). If you eat this burger in 60 minutes or less, you get your meal free! Did we try it? No, but even with 4 of us eating this, we still on ate half of it. Has anyone else ever eaten all of it before? Yes, 4 different guys, with the fastest record being held by a 180 lb. guy who ate it in 7 minutes and 36 seconds flat.

What did everyone think of this burger? Check it out below.

Now we just need to go back and try the "Avalanche!" It's only 18 scoops of ice cream with toppings!

Twins are growing like weeds!

Yesterday we had our 4 month checkup with Dr. Burton, which is their development doctor. She said that they are doing fabulous.

They passed all their test from grabbing objects to talking and answering. They both are going through the pre-crawling stage, which means that any day, I will probably have 2 crawlers. OH MY GOODNESS! It is hard to believe that my little ones are going to start crawling.

Then we measure them to see how they are doing on that. . .good!

Blake is: 15 lbs. 14 oz. and 25 3/4 inches long

Luke is: 15 lbs. 7 oz. and 26 1/4 inches long

Still taller than brother, but catching up in weight.

We can start having the "puffs" and "cheerios" now, so I am excited about trying to start "spit food" as she calls it.

Other than that, they are doing wonderful! It's hard to believe, they are going to be 9 months old.

Where does the time go. . .