It's that time of year again. Jump Rope for Heart is here!
Jump Rope for Heart is a fundraiser to benefit the American Heart Association.
As you know, Ella was born with Pulmonary Stenosis, so heart disease is a subject near and dear to our "hearts"!
This year both girls have the opportunity to participate in the Jump Rope event. Which means, we get to raise double the money, right? No, we just want them both to have the opportunity to learn a little bit about giving and a whole lot about Heart Health!
If you would like to donate to one or both girls I have attached the links to there Heartquarters page. I will also be sending out emails with the link attached.
Thanks again supporting the American Heart Association and Claire and Ella's Jump Rope for Heart efforts.
Claire: http://honor.americanheart.org/site/TR/JumpforHeart/JRFH-MWA?px=1860796&pg=personal&fr_id=1284&et=bRFJJSif3R3ZQVuzku73vA..&s_tafId=3919
Ella: http://honor.americanheart.org/site/TR/JumpforHeart/JRFH-MWA?px=1860765&pg=personal&fr_id=1284&et=AHBfxZNUE21BATVPrpxBbw..&s_tafId=3920
Blessings
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Mystery solved!
I am happy to report that our medical mystery is solved!
Ella has been diagnosed with a couple separate conditions, both of which are easily treatable!
First, she has what is called Functional Abdominal Pain. That pretty much means she has a "sensitive tummy". If she gets anxious, worried, busy, stressed, excited, pretty much any extreme emotion, it settles in her stomach. This causes very severe, and very real, stomach pain. This is not terribly uncommon, in fact her GI specialist has suffered from the same condition all his life.
We are going to be treating her with a prescription medication and a healthy (whole grain, whole foods) diet for 1 year and then see how she is doing. We are confident that this will help alleviate most of her pain and, with all of our help, we will help her learn to manage the pain that does come along.
If you want more info, check this out: http://www.gi.org/patients/gihealth/functionalab.asp
Second, she has been diagnosed with Hypermobility. That is a fancy way of say that she has extra space between her joints. This space allows her bones (and whatever else is in that joint area) to "bump" against each other over and over during the day, which is what causes her pain. The good news is that her condition is mild enough that we hope she will outgrow it on her own.
Her treatment is exercise, especially swimming, biking and running. The more she can do to help those joint muscles get stronger, the better. We are very excited about her "prescription" to swim as we are a swimming family! We will continue to monitor her, especially her right ankle which appears to be the weakest and may need to be braced later on. Hopefully very soon, with healthy eating and lots of exercise, she'll be running all day and sleeping peacefully and pain-free all night.
If your bored, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermobility
All in all, we are very grateful for, and happy with, her diagnoses. While it may not always feel like it, Ella is very lucky. She gets to be this amazing example of healthy eating and energetic exercising that we all need. Thanks to Ella, our pantries will be well stocked, our fridges will be very green and our Y membership will be well used.
I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. The calls, texts, emails and FB posts have meant so much to me and have often come at just the right moment to remind me to look forward and up!
Blessings
Ella has been diagnosed with a couple separate conditions, both of which are easily treatable!
First, she has what is called Functional Abdominal Pain. That pretty much means she has a "sensitive tummy". If she gets anxious, worried, busy, stressed, excited, pretty much any extreme emotion, it settles in her stomach. This causes very severe, and very real, stomach pain. This is not terribly uncommon, in fact her GI specialist has suffered from the same condition all his life.
We are going to be treating her with a prescription medication and a healthy (whole grain, whole foods) diet for 1 year and then see how she is doing. We are confident that this will help alleviate most of her pain and, with all of our help, we will help her learn to manage the pain that does come along.
If you want more info, check this out: http://www.gi.org/patients/gihealth/functionalab.asp
Second, she has been diagnosed with Hypermobility. That is a fancy way of say that she has extra space between her joints. This space allows her bones (and whatever else is in that joint area) to "bump" against each other over and over during the day, which is what causes her pain. The good news is that her condition is mild enough that we hope she will outgrow it on her own.
Her treatment is exercise, especially swimming, biking and running. The more she can do to help those joint muscles get stronger, the better. We are very excited about her "prescription" to swim as we are a swimming family! We will continue to monitor her, especially her right ankle which appears to be the weakest and may need to be braced later on. Hopefully very soon, with healthy eating and lots of exercise, she'll be running all day and sleeping peacefully and pain-free all night.
If your bored, check this out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypermobility
All in all, we are very grateful for, and happy with, her diagnoses. While it may not always feel like it, Ella is very lucky. She gets to be this amazing example of healthy eating and energetic exercising that we all need. Thanks to Ella, our pantries will be well stocked, our fridges will be very green and our Y membership will be well used.
I want to thank all of you for your prayers and support. The calls, texts, emails and FB posts have meant so much to me and have often come at just the right moment to remind me to look forward and up!
Blessings
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Good news and deep thoughts....
We survived! Actually, Ella survived! As we all knew she would.
Ella has survived her first week of, what I like to call, her 2 week medical quest. We are spending this week and next going to different doctors and enduring different tests to figure out why little Ella has so many aches, pains and belly blues.
This weeks she had an upper GI, an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. She had to go under general anesthesia today for her procedure. That was probably harder on me than her. She did great!
The doctor didn't find anything terribly alarming and is fairly confident that he knows what the problem is, and luckily, there is a solution. The problem is that her lower intestines "spasm and cramp" which causes her severe pain. She is going to start taking a medication that will block the pain from reaching her brain (or something like that, I was distracted because I hadn't seen her yet and was anxious to!). While I don't like the idea of my 5 year old on daily medication already, I am excited to watch her live pain free! Her doc said that we will try taking her off the meds in a year and see how she does.
The bright spot in this diagnosis: her GI doc has the same condition, since childhood, so he is very receptive to it and has some great experience to share with us. Considering he was not our first choice in docs, but the situation forced us his way, thank you God for that one!!!
Next week Ella will visit her cardiologist, a quick EKG is required before starting her new "tummy medicine" then we are off to Iowa City to meet with her Rheumatologist for the first time. This will be our opportunity to explore the aches, pains and rashes that have been bothering Ella for quite some time. This should be an interesting appointment, although I am keeping my expectations low at this point! : )
So, that is the good news. We are happy with our progress thus far and optimistic about the future.
Here's my deep thought for the day:
My heart broke twice today. The first was watching my beautiful daughter slowly fall into a terrible state of lethargy. She hadn't eatin anything today and very little yesterday. By 11:00 today, she was having a hard time staying awake, couldn't concentrate on anything and cried out in sadness and hunger pains every few minutes. As I watched her, and hugged her, I thought about all the children in Haiti and elsewhere that often go without food for a day or more. I thought about all the children who have so little to eat everyday. Are they tired like Ella? Do they have the energy to go to school, to learn, to play? I doubt it. My heart broke again. What we experienced today was nothing. We fasted for a day so we could go through a very expensive medical procedure to help our daughter feel her best. Afterward, we went to Bravo and got her favorite pasta to "slowly get back her energy". Tomorrow, we'll be munching away again, not a care in the world. Except, I hope, we'll remember how we felt as we watched our "starving" child for a day.
I know there is so much more I can do to help those in need, both near and far. If you are looking for a place to serve, call me. I have great friends who work solely for the purpose of mission and I will gladly connect you.
If nothing else, my prayers tonight will be filled with gratitude. Not just for our health, but for our food and our awareness. They will also be filled with hope. Hope for the many out there who need our help and our prayers.
Blessings,
j
Ella has survived her first week of, what I like to call, her 2 week medical quest. We are spending this week and next going to different doctors and enduring different tests to figure out why little Ella has so many aches, pains and belly blues.
This weeks she had an upper GI, an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. She had to go under general anesthesia today for her procedure. That was probably harder on me than her. She did great!
The doctor didn't find anything terribly alarming and is fairly confident that he knows what the problem is, and luckily, there is a solution. The problem is that her lower intestines "spasm and cramp" which causes her severe pain. She is going to start taking a medication that will block the pain from reaching her brain (or something like that, I was distracted because I hadn't seen her yet and was anxious to!). While I don't like the idea of my 5 year old on daily medication already, I am excited to watch her live pain free! Her doc said that we will try taking her off the meds in a year and see how she does.
The bright spot in this diagnosis: her GI doc has the same condition, since childhood, so he is very receptive to it and has some great experience to share with us. Considering he was not our first choice in docs, but the situation forced us his way, thank you God for that one!!!
Next week Ella will visit her cardiologist, a quick EKG is required before starting her new "tummy medicine" then we are off to Iowa City to meet with her Rheumatologist for the first time. This will be our opportunity to explore the aches, pains and rashes that have been bothering Ella for quite some time. This should be an interesting appointment, although I am keeping my expectations low at this point! : )
So, that is the good news. We are happy with our progress thus far and optimistic about the future.
Here's my deep thought for the day:
My heart broke twice today. The first was watching my beautiful daughter slowly fall into a terrible state of lethargy. She hadn't eatin anything today and very little yesterday. By 11:00 today, she was having a hard time staying awake, couldn't concentrate on anything and cried out in sadness and hunger pains every few minutes. As I watched her, and hugged her, I thought about all the children in Haiti and elsewhere that often go without food for a day or more. I thought about all the children who have so little to eat everyday. Are they tired like Ella? Do they have the energy to go to school, to learn, to play? I doubt it. My heart broke again. What we experienced today was nothing. We fasted for a day so we could go through a very expensive medical procedure to help our daughter feel her best. Afterward, we went to Bravo and got her favorite pasta to "slowly get back her energy". Tomorrow, we'll be munching away again, not a care in the world. Except, I hope, we'll remember how we felt as we watched our "starving" child for a day.
I know there is so much more I can do to help those in need, both near and far. If you are looking for a place to serve, call me. I have great friends who work solely for the purpose of mission and I will gladly connect you.
If nothing else, my prayers tonight will be filled with gratitude. Not just for our health, but for our food and our awareness. They will also be filled with hope. Hope for the many out there who need our help and our prayers.
Blessings,
j
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Professor Avery
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Mommy got her smart phone on...
This is a test. This is only a test.
As many of you know, I have been debating whether I should get a blackberry and tie myself to my email.
Well, I did it. And man, do I love it. I now have endless opportunities to capture life in all it's crazy and share it with you!
Enjoy!!
Janelle
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
As many of you know, I have been debating whether I should get a blackberry and tie myself to my email.
Well, I did it. And man, do I love it. I now have endless opportunities to capture life in all it's crazy and share it with you!
Enjoy!!
Janelle
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
Those winter time blues....
Fog. Ice. Snow.
Slush. Dirty cars. Flooding.
School's out. Kids cooped up. Dog getting lost in the snow drifts.
School's out. Kids cooped up. Dog getting lost in the snow drifts.
This is my recipe for the winter time blues.
I don't really have anything new to report tonight. I just missed you! ; )
There always seems to be this lull in the middle of winter. A time when I just can't seem to get motivated to do anything.
Cleaning isn't fun. (yes, normally I love it!)
Organizing seems overwhelming. (yes, that is 100% opposite of my normal thought)
Laundry is piling up. (yes, that does happen in the summer too!)
Laundry is piling up. (yes, that does happen in the summer too!)
My blog goes unloved for too long....
So, tonight I'm writing a gratitude list to lift my spirits. Someone once told me, "a full and thankful heart cannot entertain great conceits. When brimming with gratitude, one's heartbeat must surely result in outgoing love, the finest emotion that we can ever know."
I'm grateful for...
my husband
my children
my mother
my family
my friends, especially my best friends, my mommy friends, my neighbor friends and my work friends!
organic snacks
health insurance
the internet
my computer
my blackberry ; )
my blackberry ; )
my music, without which I would never get anything done
my reliable car
my warm bed
my warm, safe and comfortable house
my lack of fancy stuff to clutter my house
my lack of fancy stuff to clutter my house
my job
sticky notes
my washing machine
Walnut Creek swim team
my sense of humor
my sense of humor
my friends' sense of humor
Avery's sense of humor
my ability to read
my faith in God....
Hang in there, spring is almost here!
God bless,
Thursday, January 7, 2010
Christmas Break Fun at the Rousehouse
With all the snow and cold, we were given a little extra play time this Christmas Break.
Avery chose to spend that time getting into all kinds of mischief!
Here she is after rubbing mommy's new Sleep Aromatherapy Lotion all over her hair and her favorite puppy. My room smelled great for days and the puppy still does!!
Here is Avery after she decided to use blue toothpaste as lipstick.......
And finally, Avery (with some help from Claire and Ella) enjoying a little dinner time show......
Avery chose to spend that time getting into all kinds of mischief!
Here she is after rubbing mommy's new Sleep Aromatherapy Lotion all over her hair and her favorite puppy. My room smelled great for days and the puppy still does!!
Here is Avery after she decided to use blue toothpaste as lipstick.......
And finally, Avery (with some help from Claire and Ella) enjoying a little dinner time show......
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