update on McKinley

McKinley went for a followup appointment today and she was such a trooper! The other night in the ER they had to put packing in her wound so they removed it today & re-dressed it. They upped her medicine to a stronger dose (and by the way, it stinks having all these meds in January since we haven't met our deductible yet).  But the way McKinley is going we will met it soon:)

The above picture was 1st week in January:

Last week of January!!


Hope next month is uneventful!

Melissa

What weve been doing...

Yep, My little girl got an infection that turned into a staph infection. After 2 days on antibiotics the medicine stopped working & the infection got worse. We spent 8 hours in the ER last night and finally got released at 3 A.M.

Around 2 am she finally passed out! Please pray that McKinley's infection will begin to heal properly
with the new medicines that they are giving her.

She is feeling really good this morning, we go back to the DR. tomorrow and hopefully get cleared.



Thanks for your prayers,
Melissa

Alderman Ford Park

It was such a beautiful day outside today we decided to get out and go to a local park. We walked there 2 mile trail and they have these little exercise stations every so often throughout the trail. The girls love to stop at each one. what should probably only take us 45 minutes took us 1.5 hr because of all the stops.But the girls had fun & that's really all that matter, right?

McKinley & our neighbor ( shes like my 4th child)

That's what I call walking with a purpose:)

This is the new thing Madison is doing..when I tell her to smile she wrinkles up her nose & her eyes looks like their closed.

This was Morgan trying to pull herself back up onto the path after she had climbed down this embankment....Don't worry, she made it

doing their push ups!

It was beautiful day the Lord had made. So glad we were able to get out and enjoy it.

5 MONTHS

This little cutie has been with us for 5 months now! Boy, how time flies.

• Madison you love going to school each afternoon
• You sleep with all your dolls/ stuffed animals every night
• You still wont have anything to do with your bed
• You talk A LOT! 
• You usually wake up in a good mood, most mornings 
• You talk on your play phone all the time
• You are very smart & seem to pick up things quickly
• Your getting better at writing your name
• You can count from 1-30
• You talk alot.
• You love playing in your new kitchen & you cook for mommy all the time
• I would say you are a tiny bit more of a daddy's girl than a mommy's:(
• You love to sing EVERY song that comes on the radio whether you know the words or not
• You love playing in the bathtub with your toys
• You ask to go to Chick-fil-a almost everyday (sometimes several times a day)
• You will eat almost any plate of food set in front of you
• You can out eat many of the grown ups I know
• You love to swim in the pool
• Did I mention you talk alot?
• You love coloring
• When you have any kind of noodles to eat you refuse to use a fork, you will only use chopstick

Madison I cant wait to see how far you've come in another 5 months, you are one amazing little firecracker!

WE LOVE YOU!

FIELD TRIP

McKinley had a field trip to MOSI today and she wanted her daddy to go with her ( yep, I feel very loved:). Anyway, since I have been on this same field trip once before so I was happy to get out of   let David go with her. I only had one rule....He must take at least 3 pictures for me!

And that is exactly what he did no more, no less..

In other news, I have had so many people tell me that Madison looks just like me, which is so funny to me. I put this picture on Instagram the other day and she does kind of look like me a little:)

We have kind of hit a wall so to speak with her language, its a little frustrating but I have to keep reminding myself that it has only been 5 months. Most things I have read & people who I have talked with say it usually takes a full year for their English to develop. Other than that, she is doing great at school and loves to go.


Happy Thursday!
Melissa

Busch Gardens

Yesterday the girls were out of school so we took them to Busch Gardens. It was a great day to go because it was a little cooler than usual. Madison had a great time riding all the kiddie rides and she & I hung out while the big kids went on the coaster. I have always loved riding roller coasters but the older I get the less I like them:) I'm content hanging back with Madison & let David go on the coasters with the girls.

Madison is not scared of anything or anyone, she walked right up to Elmo & big bird and hugged them.
It was a nice day spent my the ones I love the most!

First taste of cotton candy!

McKinley & our neighbor, Abby, loading up on sugar:)

BLESSINGS-

MELISSA

Random photo dump!

Look at those thigh muscles:)

This was her referral picture!

one of our favorite people came to visit a few weeks ago! We miss you A.C.

This was one of the family photos we had made at Thanksgiving.

Happy Friday Y'all

CORRECTION

OK I have to correct a word on my post I just did.. I put Clothes instead of closed!! DUH. that's what I get for trying to write something so early in the morning:) I corrected it , but for those of you who signed up to get my blog emailed to your directly it will not make the correction.

OJ I feel better now that I have put that out there!


Have a great Wednesday!

Quiet Time

This morning Madison was watching curious George on TV in the family room so I went into the living room to read my bible & pray for a few minutes, Madison came in their once but was very quiet.

After I was done I went into the kitchen & after a few minutes i notice she wasn't on the couch watching her show anymore so I called out to her. In her tiny little voice I heard " I'm reading my bible"
So of course I grabbed my camera & this is what  saw:

I told her she couldn't read with her eyes closed & she said " Momma, I'm praying"! LOVE IT!

Earlier this morning she & "baby" ate breakfast together:

Madison did really well at school yesterday. We talked all weekend about how she needed to go play on the playground with the other kids, that she didn't need to get upset when her teacher took her to the other class. I took her a few minutes early yesterday so that I could take her to the playground & I talked to her about how much fun it would be to play & slide. I said when Mommy comes back I want you to be having fun on the playground. She kept saying " no crying".

When you pull into the parking lot you can see the playground, So me & McKinley stopped to look if we could see her & we DID! She was running around playing with a smile on her face. I said "yay, I prayed that she would go play outside today" McKinley patted me on the back & said " good job praying mom, God makes things happen"! HA! I love her, she is my little encourager:)

So that is what I will leave you with today...GOD MAKES THINGS HAPPEN!

FOLLOW UP DR. VISIT

Today was our follow up visit to the Hematologist for Madison. They did extensive DNA blood work on her a month ago and we went back for all the results today. I had shared months ago that our Pediatrician had told us that Madison did not have Thalassemia but that she was just a carrier for it. However, we were told today that she does indeed have Alpha Thalassemia minor. This is very, very minor and the doctor assured us that it will not affect her in any way. This is a condition that is past down from parents just like the color of your eyes & hair. In a nutshell, Thalassemia minor just means that Madison's red blood cells are smaller than normal and die off quicker than ours.

The doctor wants to see us back in 6 months to check her hemoglobin but until then we do nothing. Outside of giving her iron rich foods nothing changes which is great news.

The nurse that called her back just kept oohing & aahing over her. She gave her 7 stickers before she even went back to the room:) When she gave Madison the stickers she said " after DR" Ha! that's my girl, she knows the routine & how things go so she knows that she doesn't get the sticker until after she sees the Dr. Then the Dr. gave her 3 more after he saw her:) We were there for 2 hours and Madison did really well. My parents got her a leap pad for Christmas and she LOVES it! That keeps her busy when we are out & about, which makes mommy happy, happy, happy.( thats my ode to Duck Dynasty, I love that show & can't wait for the new season to start in March). Ok im gettting off track now so I'm gonna go now and start our bedtime rituals.


BLESSINGS_


Melissa

First week

We survived our first week of VPK! Madison is learning the routine really well. She still has a hard time the last 20 minutes of class because that is when her teacher takes them to another class to go outside with another teacher. This makes Madison very anxious and she will not play on the play ground with the other kids. Yesterday she was standing at the door looking in crying :-( Today she was in the room helping Mrs. Jenny (the teacher she is very attached to) clean her room which is not the best situation. She really needs to learn to play with the other children and realize that she is safe and secure even though her primary teacher is not around. We are still praying about how to handle this.


She has been playing "just Dance" with Morgan every afternoon, and she is so stinkin cute with that remote i her hand & those dance moves...

Yesterday for lunch I gave her noodles (I buy this big pack from Sam's & she loves them). Anyway, she had eaten half the bowl when she got up, went to a drawer in the kitchen & got herself some chopsticks. She came back to the table handed me her fork & said "no pork" (that's how her "fork" sounds. She ate the rest of her noodles with her chopsticks with the biggest smile.... I want to record all these stories on her so that I can have them for later.

Well poor McKinley never went back to school after Tuesday's accident. If she cannot put any weight on her foot by Sunday then she will have to go to Orthopaedic next week and that will probably mean a cast... I really don't want that. But, she has finally started using her crutches but she is not real stable on them and is very fearful that she will fall. Being home this is what she has been doing all week:

Maybe next week will be a little more "uneventful" at the Whitten house:)  I will keep you posted.

Blessings--Melissa