Spring Has Sprung...Somewhere

 Someone forgot to tell this robin that Spring hasn't sprung here in New England yet!

We are coming into the home stretch of the first week of spring. I am still waiting for the weather to improve, the snow to melt and the iceberg to disappear from my driveway!

Dad had an appointment on Thursday. The told him he would be at the top of the list starting the 22nd. Well they called Monday to tell him his 29 days started Monday. Here's the worst part...there are a few at the top. If someone else is more critical than Dad the day the heart comes they give it to the more critical patient...they make Dad go too! If there is a complication and the heart is not a match, or is not exactly what the other guy needs Dad will be on standby! I can't even imagine the agony of going through that once never mind preparing for it several times!!!!!!

Dad is calmest of all of us as usual and takes it in stride. Luckily he is feeling good and all his numbers and levels are exactly where they are suppose to be. This is what LVAD living should be like. Not like it was the first 6 months where nothing was ever stable and you bleed internally for month without knowing!

Dad and Kylie continue to work on their "novel" in the little notebook I made for her. She adds to it each week, it's called "Daddy, Mommy, Lilly" according to Kylie. I guess the rest of us are chopped liver.

The girls came over today and we gave them their Easter gifts a little early so they could play with them. Lilly loved her color wonder marker set. Kylie liked the "clicker" ( calculator ) from Grammy and Papa. She kept trying to turn on the TV with it!

Julie was just her cute little self hanging out with her little fishy friends that swim around in the little aquarium attached to her seat. They are fake and plastic but they move all around and make music too. She is happy as can be.

Auntie Phyllis Ann called today while the kids were over to say hi. They thanked her for all the cool Easter treats she sent them. Kylie for some reason instead of calling her "Auntie" kept calling her "Maunty" 

Papa got back to his chair only, someone had stole it while he went to grab her a gift!

This past weekend Tracy and I took the kids shopping so I could buy Adele her Easter dress. I have been buying her an Easter dress or spring outfit every year instead of buying her Easter candy. Well I didn't want to put her picture up yet and ruin the debut of the perfect Easter dress! Instead I am putting up the little gem of a hat Colin and I found among the Easter bonnets! He liked it much better than any of the bonnets there :)

Two of my pieces, from my design class, made the Art Wall display cases. It's the lower left piece on the "right to education" and the top right piece which is a collage made from flight photos I took while flying in Alaska with my Uncle Lee and his friend Larry, who is also a pilot. I used all original photos that I took myself! I must say they are photos from the trip of a lifetime. They made a fantastic piece! Thanks Uncle Lee!!!!

Lastly I will leave you with an image of a few of my favorite students. It is Tom's birthday Thursday, but because we are not here Thursday ( It's Holy Thursday ) we decided to do it for tomorrow. Tom is the guy I work with, who is a great friend and the students all love him too. We almost lost him a few years ago to an illness so every birthday is like a gift, and we wanted to help him celebrate. I wish I could be here in the morning to see his face when he comes in :)

I would like to thank everyone for their continued support. It has been a long journey and even though we have a long way to go we know you have our backs and will stand by us every step of the way! 

Until next Tuesday, 

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!

Laurie

Spring?

 Sign of Spring? What A Tease!!!

 On the way to my office last week I noticed some sure signs of spring these were growing near the sidewalk on campus!

 

...today we were reminded that it is still Winter for one more day!!! Only in New England though can you see the sun come out while it is still snowing! Is there such thing as a snowbow?

Dad had a good week. A good sign :) He goes back up to 1A status on Friday! This means if a heart becomes available he is at the tipity top of the list. He will remain at the 1A status for 29 days. So here's hoping a new heart comes in and it is as physically fit as they want it to be.  It's both exciting and scary at the same time to know that you are "on-call" waiting for the phone to ring.

Dad has an appointment on Thursday and the day after his appointment if all systems are go they will move him up to 1A. If anything is off, level wise I don't know if it will delay the start of going to the top. Here's to hoping that all the pieces fall into place and he will be moving on up...to a delux room in the Shapiro Tower at Brigham and Women's!

He had a very busy weekend this past weekend as did we all. The Catholic Men's conference was at the DCU on Saturday and he had to provide the music. So Mike Curry came by and packed up all of Dad's stuff to bring down to the DCU.  It's kind of a lot of stuff, so thanks Mike.

I wasn't home to pack it all up because I was helping prepare for a St. Patrick's Day party. It is amazing what a small group of people can do in 48 hours. We had a great crew of people and everything was perfect. It was a lot of work and a lot of fun along with some REALLY good food :)

This was our table and behind us my Aunt Irene and my cousins Steven and Lee, joined us at the next table. My cousins came all the way from Alaska! They are visiting their Mom and she wanted them to come to the party too. It was nice to see them.

The McInerney School of Irish Dance had a large group of Irish step dancers who were truly amazing. Some of them are even competing in a World competition that will be held this year in Boston!

The set up for the party was fun, the decorating was great but at the end... it's a little bit like taking down Christmas decorations after Christmas is over, kinda sad to put it all away until next year.

We had fun even taking down the decorations! I told you it's a great group! I know this looks like I am beating up the green guy and winning. Truth be told...this guy was killing me! We could not get the air out of them to put them back into storage. It had a safety tab that you had to squeeze to get the air out. Long story short, it took 6 of us about a half hour to deflate the suckers!

I also got to have dinner with "The Pack" as we call ourselves (its a movie reference) We have been friends since as long as I can remember. These girls and I have been through thick and thin together. It's so great to be able to still hang out with the friends you grew up with. Dad does the same thing with his buddies from his old neighborhood. They meet up usually once a month for dinner. I feel like these guys never change. They all have looked the same for most of my life and I am hoping my friends and I share the same fate and stay as young as they have.

Sunday was St. Patrick's Day and Joe and Lauren came home from New Jersey for a visit. Joe couldn't believe how much Julie had changed since the last time he saw her. It was her first St. Patrick's Day. So we had to take an Auntie and Julie picture to remember it. I wanted to put the crown on her but I didn't want it to scratch her so I wore it instead to commemorate the occasion.  Kylie and Lilly were also wearing their "green." They really don't understand St. Patrick's Day, so for them it was an excuse to wear green together.

I am hoping we have seen the last of the snow. The weather people like to keep telling us that Worcester has had over 100 inches of snow this season. The 5th snowiest season in it's history! I don't care...I just want all "over 100" inches to MELT! Tomorrow is the official first day of spring. Puxatony Phil is going to be out of work soon. How wrong one little groundhog can be.  This year he doesn't see his shadow and we have a winter that breaks records...last winter, he saw his shadow and we also had a winter that broke records...but because we had NO SNOW! Sorry Phil, you have made a lot of  New Englanders angry with your false prediction this year.

So onward and upward we hope to move by the end of the week. We need your good thoughts and prayers more than ever now. Thanks to everyone for all of the amazing support and great things you have all done for Dad and our family. We are truly blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful family and friends.

Until Next Week,

Laurie

Movin On Up...

March 22 Dad goes back up to 1A Status for 30 days!


Dad got a phone call today after I left for school. Mom sent me a text while I was in class that Dad is moving back up to 1A status on March 22!  Buckle your seat belts sports fans...we are hopefully going in!  What this means is that from March 22 to April 22 Dad is on the top of the list for a heart. So we need your prayers more than ever.

We had another miserable snow storm this past week. I was off from school and work Thursday and Friday due to the weather. I did work at the Y though on Thursday. It was crowded there due to the fact that hardly any snow was falling at 5 a.m.! This storm was an epic FAIL on the meteorologists part. Thursday was suppose to be bad into Friday. Instead it was ALL day Friday. MISERABLE!
So we shoveled, Mr. Warren plowed,shoveled, Mr. Warren plowed, shoveled, and then Brendan snow blowed so we could get to the basement and walk around a bit.

Winter please go away! I saw this little Gem on the internet on Friday! Pretty much sums it up!

On Saturday, (bright and early thanks to daylight savings time beginning) I met Brendan and a group of   Shrewsbury Call Firefighters at the Town Hall in Shrewsbury. Now I just have to mention that I was the first one there, because it never happens!!! The Shrewsbury Call Firefighters got together and under the direction of Bobby "Bubba" Warren organized a VERY successful can and bottle drive. All the proceeds went to Dad's Medical Fund.

Brendan and I worked along side these guys who gave up their whole Saturday to help out. They worked tirelessly to make this a success. I would like to thank Mr. Bob Warren ( for plowing me out of my driveway! and ) for organizing the event and letting us use his trucks to transport all of the cans and bottles to the redemption center. His whole family helped us out too! His Dad was there, working right along side us all day. I cannot believe how many cans and bottles we were able to collect! People driving by saw the sign and went home to grab their cans and bottles. One woman who was walking her dog came back with a carload of cans and bottles after she saw the sign!

The fire truck even stopped by for a bit to see how we were all doing and offer their support. 

Jimmy Bernie and Mr. Warren taking a much needed break after being on their feet for 6 hours straight! They worked until every last can and bottle was loaded onto the truck!

Sunday was another busy day. I ran a road race, The Celtic 5k. My first 5k of the 2013 season! My friend Stacey and I ran together. I have to say it was a frustrating race because there were 3,000 runners who registered for the race. I was dodging people left and right. At one point I remember mentioning to Stacey that I was running "angry" and not liking it! My time wasn't my best, I did manage less than 10 minute miles, but the dodging and weaving slowed us down. I finished and have my t-shirt to wear on St. Patty's Day!

 Here's a picture of Stacey and I after the race. It was a bright and sunny day. Good day for a race :)

Sunday also marked Julie's 3 Month birthday :) It's hard to believe she is 3 months old already. She is cute as a button and her sisters love her to pieces!

Brendan, Kerry, The girls and Auntie Peggy came over for dinner on Sunday after the St. Patricks Day parade. Lilly and Kylie loved the parade.  Lilly was very happy she got to eat her lollipop from the parade, hiding it from Kylie of course.

So we are moving onward and upward soon. Please keep the prayers coming. They are making a world of difference. We are truly blessed to have so many wonderful people praying for Dad. We have quite the cheering section. Thanks to everyone for everything that you have done and continue to do. We are so fortunate to have such a wonderful group of family and friends who are supporting us every step of the way!

Until Next Week,

Laurie

Spring Is Coming...or so they tell us.

Sorry to all my faithful followers.

 I am working a different schedule this week because of spring break and I was unable to update the blog yesterday. Tonight I have a little more time so I can update you. Dad had another appointment at Brigham and Women's on Tuesday. He received a good report other than his blood pressure is still elevated. The again increased his BP meds.

There had been a discussion when Dad was in the hospital in December and January. Because he had the LVAD surgery, he is eligible for 29 days at the top of the list. The 29 days will be in a row and if a heart becomes available, he is on the tip top of the list to get it. He would again be 1A status. We were told by several ICU nurses ( off the record ) that a good time to pick is the spring. It is sad to think but with spring comes proms, graduations and it's awful, but accidents.  It is good to be on the the top of the list then because donations increase.

Dad asked if he should move up or wait since he was doing so well. They again suggested that when you feel well is the best time to do it. While you are strong and healthy is the way they want you to go into surgery. They would rather you go in with everything to fight with. It's a little scary to think that when his 29 days are activated that at any minute any time of day or night we could be heading into Boston for a new heart.

The girls came over to visit on Friday night. They were watching nursery rhymes on Dad's phone with him and were amazed! Kerry mentioned that they didn't have a nursery rhyme CD or DVD so I bought them one at the dollar store this week.

Kylie's favorite was "Humpty Dumpty" who she calls "Humpy Dumpy" She made us play it over and over and Lilly just laughed and laughed.








Grammy and Julie sang some songs too. Julie just smiled and smiled and she is already "talking". She babbles away, it is so very cute! If she is talking at three months you know she's my niece!

The Girls also had a chance to feed Cleveland

They love to drop in his food and watch him swim to the top to eat. Kylie has a hard time not wanting to grab him! She puts he hands right above the water to point at him. I have to remind her to not touch Cleveland but to watch him!
                       

Dad and Kylie did "homework" in a little notebook Dad had. She sat there for almost 20 minutes just "writing" in her book telling Papa what she was writing.

Lilly decided to dance instead in Julie's Boppy pillow which she referred to as her "tutu." I kept calling her four-four because it was so big, she didn't quite understand :)

I will leave you all with a little story:

Today Dad, Mom and I Facetimed with the girls. Kylie had on a cute shirt with a monkey on it and we told her how cute it was. I saw Lilly's shirt and said, "Lil, how cool you have a purple peace sign on your shirt." She said, "no it's not, it's a steering wheel." Brendan tried to explain that it was a peace sign, but she was pretty sure of herself and again told everyone it was a steering wheel. So it's a steering wheel! I have to say it does look like a steering wheel now that I see it. Maybe that's where the person who invented the peace symbol stole the idea from! 

Well we are preparing for ANOTHER winter storm. I have to be to work at 5:00 a.m. so I am signing off until next Tuesday. I will be back to my normal schedule so the blog will be updated Tuesday night. 

Thanks to everyone who still continues to support us and help us along the way. This is a very loooonnnggg journey but one that is worth the trip!

Until next week,

Laurie

Blog will be updated Wednesday This week

It is Spring Break week and I am behind. Please excuse my lateness but I will update everyone on Dad's appointment on tomorrow's blog post