Hannah Montana

So on a whim Alicia decides to try to get some tickets to see Hannah Montana in Worcester and it worked! We took the girls on Friday the 21st and didn't tell them where we were going until we were in the parking garage of the Centrum! Boy were they shocked! But a good time was had by all. Here are a few pics.

The Curse Continues

I'm not going to rehash it all. Sally has done an excellent job of spelling it out. Check out her blog here: http://lifeatthelevines.blogspot.com/ and read the post of the same name.

Goodbye Aunt Joann. I'm so sad to see you go. You have always been so kind and sweet. My heart just breaks for you, Uncle Bob, your kids and Ethan.

Bell Out of Order, Please Knock

The phone isn't working again. Piece of crap! And I frankly don't have time for the Cox guy today so if you need to reach us you can email, IM or call one of our cell phones. Updates again when it's working.

Ally's First Haircut

Cousin Carianne came and gave the whole family haircuts for Christmas. This included Ally's first haircut. Ok, it wasn't much of a haircut, really it was barely a trim. Let's face it she doesn't have much hair to cut! But the theory is you have to cut it to make it grow. So Cari trimmed where she could and when she could (it was tough with the wiggling). And Ally did really well, she was excited for her turn and never cried. She was also excited for it to be Joshy's turn and she could be done. Anyway hopefully this will encourage her little hairs to grow!

When I Grow Up

Joshua wants to be a policeman when he grows up. Because he can have a big gun and shoot the bad guys. Today though he said to me "Police mans don't fly planes right?" No Joshua, they don't. "Well, someday they will. And I am going to do that. Be a policeman in a plane. And they go super fast! Adagio." Which actually means slowly in terms of music, but at least he's paying attention and trying to learn something from Little Einsteins. I love three years old. They are now verbal enough to explain all the things they are thinking and they are learning and observing at lightening speed.

Report Card

Paige got 3 As and 3 Bs on her first ever report card with letter grades. Awesome job my girl!

Answer

Into the Mystic

Poll Question

This is a write in so leave a comment with your answer.

What is my favorite Van Morrison song?

Answer to be posted later when most people who will respond have responded.

Boys and Girls

Joshua has been saying very cute things lately, I think it's the age. He talks about things that "boys" do. For example he will ask to watch a TV show for boys. Or when he couldn't reach the faucet the other day he said "Boys can't do it mommy." This morning he told Chris "Boys don't like that." about the new toothpaste we had. Last night he told me "Boys love you mommy." I couldn't stop cracking up.

Also while tucking him in last night he asked if he could bring his new NASCAR pillow to daycare. Here is how the conversation went:
Joshua: Can I bring this pillow to school tomorrow?
Me: Yes.
Joshua: And I can show my friends?
Me: Sure.
Joshua: Collin and the girls?
Me: Yes, ok. Who are "the girls" that you are friends with?
Joshua: Alexis. (who is one of twins)
Me: Just Alexis? Are you friends with Cassandra too?
Joshua: Yes. She's beautiful.

Snookie

Why do people hate me? Why do people go out of their way to be mean to me? What do I do to anger the population at large?
I try to be nice. Sitting here all day crying about my mother being dead and writing letters to my little children to read one day when I am gone.
And out of nowhere pops up someone who has nothing better to do with their day than make me feel even worse about myself. Why?
I don’t get it? What have I done to deserve this treatment.

3 years, one week and 3 days

Today Joshy is exactly as old as Zachary was on the day mom died. Three years, one week and 3 days.

Seriously

What kind of idiot signs themselves up for a dog?? I mean if someone said to you "I have a thing that is guaranteed to cover your house with urine and feces, will chew on and probably destroy valuable items and will fill your hours with barking and whining." What fool then says "Ooh ooh! Can I pay hundreds of dollars for that?!?!"

Seriously. I don't get people who voluntarily bring a home destroying creature into the house. I mean I have little children who walk around on that floor now covered in feces with their bare feet and pick things up off said floor and put them into their mouths. Are you getting the heebie jeebies yet? Welcome to my perspective.

That fool animal just crapped on Ally's floor, right after we brought her inside no less. That's what gets me. We had her in the crate while at soccer. As soon as we arrive at home I take the dog out, forget the humans, must take care of the dog first. And while I'm wishing I could be getting on with my night by giving the kids a bath I stand there and watch the dog pee. Then we take her in and she craps on the baby's room floor. So then I start screaming at her to stop so what does she do? Runs under my bed and craps on a pair of Chris' dirty shorts. Because I don't know about you but that's where my husband keeps his dirty clothes, under the bed.

They say that animals add years to your life, but not for me. I can actually feel years being sucked out of me as I deal with the havoc the animals have caused. Like the torture device they hook Wesley up to in the Princess Bride. Someone set it pretty high tonight, maybe 5 years.

First Day of 3rd Grade and Pre-School

All 3 with new outfits, new shoes, new lunch boxes and Paige with a new backpack they headed off to begin a new year. Paige was fretting over her shoe choices: too small or didn’t really match. But I wasn’t buying her new white shoes in the fall to wear with one outfit and then be outgrown before Easter comes. Just like a woman to be worried about her shoes! And the 2 little ones were whining a lot. As in “What do you want for breakfast?” Reply: “NO!” then hysterical crying. But once we got out the door for picure time it all turned out ok.

They are adorable and I'm so excited, I can't wait to hear how their days went. I know in a day or so the quiet will get to me, but right now I'm enjoying the sound of the crickets and nothing else!

Help Adam get a Bone Marrow Transplant

Adam Saada, a 3 /12 month old Naples Florida baby, has been diagnosed with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID), a primary immune deficiency disease. Early diagnosis of SCID is rare because doctors do not routinely perform a test in newborns to count white blood cells. This can usually result in the onset of one or more serious infections within the first few months of life. Adam has also developed PCP Pneumonia and is fighting hard to recover in order to receive an emergency bone marrow transplant. Adam’s parents, Amy and Hussam Saada desperately need our help.

SCID became widely known during the 1970's and 80's, when the world learned of a boy with X-linked SCID, who lived for years in a plastic, germ-free plastic bubble. Since then the disease is more commonly known as the “Bubble Boy Disease.” This once-fatal disease should be now seen as a pediatric emergency, a condition that needs immediate diagnosis and treatment.

YOU CAN HELP ADAM

Adam needs a bone marrow transplant within the next 30 days. The “out of pocket” cost is minimally $25,000 and can be as much as $60,000. The family desperately needs your help to pay the transplant as well as for the rapidly mounting medical bills.

Stories of Adam on the web:
MSNBC
Naples Daily News (newspaper)
Local Florida CBS Affiliate - this story has video with Adam's brother and grandfather.

Sue Buck and Sharon Ardrey have set up a charitable trust for Adam and any contribution you make will be greatly appreciated by the family.

Please make your check to:

Sharon Ardrey for Adam Saada

Mail to: Encore Bank
3003 Tamiami Trail N. Suite 100
Naples, FL 34103
Attn: Banking

-OR-

Sharon Ardrey
1507 Vintage Lane
Naples, FL 34104

Call Sue Buck at 239-949-1352 for details

Meet Our New Friend

Not sure what to call her yet (we're thinking Baxter or Jessie) and not sure we haven't gone insane. But we adopted a new Tetro today. Take a look.

Paige's Poems

These poems were in Paige's backpack today as all the work she's done in 2nd grade has been coming home in big bunches. I LOVE them and wanted to share. Here they are exactly as written, spelling too:

Paige

Funny, nice, thoughtful, creative

sister of Josh and Ally

Lover of soccer and ice cream

who fears bees and jelly fish

who needs rest

who gives help

who would like to see France

Resident of 13 windmill Rd

Tetro

Favorite Food Poetry from

by: Paige Tetro

Steamers, Steamers, Steamers,

buttery, Steamers,

Scrumptsious, Steamers,

fishy, mushy, hot, Steamers

Last of all, best of all,

delicious, Steamers

White Bread

So at my Uncle's funeral, well afterwards at the "party" or whatever you call it when people come and eat my mother's cousin (whom shall luckily remain nameless) came over to where my sister and I were sitting with our families and friends. She started talking to my sister first and I assumed it was the general "How are you? Isn't this sad? How old are your kids now?" conversation. Although I could see Sally making a face at her while she spoke so I leaned over to Tracy and nudged her and said "I wonder what is going on there? Look at Sally's face." Well next she came to me and said that my sister and I have such pretty faces and if we stop eating white bread the rest of it will follow. I looked wide-eyed over to Sally who nodded wide-eyed back as if to say "Yes, this is really happening." The cousin, who is at least in her upper 60s or maybe even in her early 70s went on to tell me that she got up to 190 pounds (big woo) and when she stopped eating white bread (which isn't good for you by the way, it does bad things to your system, get some nice multigrain bread at Stop & Shop, it tastes very good, but don't eat it every day, do every other day) she went back to being thin (which she has been all her life). And now that she's not slapping butter or peanut butter on white bread every night she has been able to stay thin. This of course didn't stop her from going to the dessert table.

When she walked away I took most of my enormous roll and shoved it all into my mouth like a 10 year old. And then I proceeded to have 12 beers (light of course!) over the course of the rest of the day and blab that story to as many family members as I could. I mean seriously, does she think that what I needed when my beloved uncle died was advice on how I could be less fat? I guess she gestured around her stomach to Sally and said something like "This...isn't doing anyone any good." Except for at a Weight Watchers meeting or perhaps if someone came crying to you about not being able to lose weight I cannot imagine a time when this would have been appropriate. But that moment was maybe the least appropriate of all.

Now I don't feel bad about not calling her back last year when she called to say congratulations on having Ally.

First Place...Times Two!

Paige came in first in both Military and Basic marching for her age group at the big baton competition today. We're so proud of her!! Here are a few pics from her team event, individual events and the trophies.

ITP

Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura
Translated in parts as "we don't know why" "blood platelets" "with bruising" This is what we now know that Ally has. It came upon her quickly. On Monday when we came home from Florida the pictures I took show that she had no bruising. By Wednesday night she had so many we called the doctor. Some were swollen big and hard from the pooled blood underneath. We probably didn't explain the situation with enough severity to the doctor, focusing on the hard swollen bruises which they said would go down with time. By Thursday we were afraid to take her out of the house. Some of the parents at Paige's soccer practice asked if we'd had her blood tested and we just went into full on panic. Not sure if bruises were an emergency or if they'd say that we should have just gone to our doctor's office in the morning, we finally decided that we were willing to pay the copay for our peace of mind. So we dropped the 2 older kids off with Chris' parents and headed for Johnson Memorial since it was the closest and we figured they were less likely than a city hospital to report us for abuse. They took one look at her and sent us to Children's Hospital in Hartford.

At Children's they examined her, took some blood and after a few nerve wracking hours determined that she has ITP. The hematologist explained that sometimes after a child has a cold or virus their immune system gets all out of whack and starts viewing the blood platelets as a foreign substance and attacks and destroys them. A normal platelet count is 350,000. Ally's was less than 5,000 and that's just as small as their machine could count. The level that constitutes an emergency is lower than 10,000 so things were pretty scary. At that level the body basically can't clot so any cut might not heal and the real fear was a bump on the head that would cause an intracranial bleed. He also said that there is growing evidence to suggest that the MMR vaccine might also cause this. And Ally just had hers on April 9th. Since it is a live measles vaccine the body starts to fight it off and then goes nuts fighting itself. So when the time comes she won't be able to have her booster shot. Most likely she's already immunized from the first time and since everyone else is there is virtually no place in this country to get the measles. If she had the booster her ITP could come back.

So we were admitted to a room and she was given a drug in her IV and monitored for reaction. The drug was not without it's own side effects. There was fear of kidney failure among other things. But she seems to be doing fine. It is the same type of drug given to mothers with an RH incompatiblity in pregnancy. How it works is that the red blood cells (which she has plenty of) give themselves up as decoys to the immune system so the platlets have a chance to grow in numbers. It should work for 30 days and by then her body should be able to take care of itself. But her platelet count might not be back to normal for 6 months.

We left the hospital around 3pm on Friday. Ally had her platelets checked on Saturday and they had risen to 25,000! So she's getting better and has had no more bruising. They expect the platelets to rise and fall as they gradually increase so she'll have to have her blood taken and tested probably weekly for 3 months. At least we're off to a good start.

Detective Taggart is That You?

You bet it is!
Dad met up with John Ashton at a golf tournament at the course next to where he lives and then we all met him for beers. Very cool! Lots of stories and memories of the guys as juvenile delinquents stealing cars and getting into trouble. Also he took out my mom and said he could see from the resemblance that I was her daughter. Very cool. More stories when I see you all in person.

And we're off!

Headed to lovely Estero Florida in a few hours. Packing the car, getting the snacks and surprises ready. So exciting! Can't wait!!

The Woogeyman

Well, I won't be doing any laundry today. I watched the Woogeyman episode of Charmed. Pheobe is always afraid of the basement and then she learns that her childhood story of the Woogeyman is actually real and the story that Grams used to tell to make it go away is actually a spell. Its a "shadow" of evil. And we all know my well documented fear of the basement and this house's track record with shadows and evil. Wonderful. I had a lot to get done today and now I'm going to be jumpy all day. In case you ever need it here is the spell...

I am light

I am one too strong to fight

Return to dark where shadows dwell

You cannot have this Halliwell

Go away and leave my site

And take with you this endless night.

I've kept it memorized just in case. I'm pretty sure you can substitute "dwell" and "Halliwell" with a word that rhymes with your last name.

Comic Relief

We all need a good laugh. Here are some funny Joshua stories;

1. On an episode of Blue's Clues Steve was teaching the steps to take when you get frustrated. While tucking Joshua in a few weeks ago he held up his "Blue" stuffed animal and said "This Blue is frust-er-ated" Then he proceeded to tell Blue what he should do: "Stop. S-ink (think). And put some cheese on it." I can't stop laughing even now while I type. When I asked Paige what the real steps were she said "Stop, breathe and think."

2. Then one night he caught me changing into my pajamas and was really craning his neck to get a glimpse. "You don't have a penis Mommy?" No, Joshua, I don't. "Is it at the store?" I think because we always say we have to get some more at the store when we run out of things that he just assumed mine had gone away and I needed to get a new one. Every now and then he'll ask me again to make sure I still don't have one. Almost in disbelief. I should probably reassure him that his isn't going away, I just didn't have one to start with.

Something has to be done

Why is it that I can buy a bathing suit in February in Connecticut when it is all of 5 degrees outside, but if you're looking for mittens for a child you're SOL??? I mean god forbid some kid loses or outgrows mittens during a winter. But hey, want to buy something that you won't need for another 4 months? We've got it in every conceivable color and style! Grrrrr!!!

How old are you really?

Chris found this site and it gives you your "real age." You go through this questionnaire (and yes, you have to register) but then it factors all these things like your general health, family history, diet, etc and tells you how old you really are. When its finished they send you an email telling you how you could be younger. For me, most of it was taking vitamins and increasing my intake of things like calcium and folic acid would fend off diseases. Chris found out that he needs to drink 1 glass of red wine a day. Ok! So anyway, my calendar age is 36.3 (36 and 3 months) but my "real age" is 38.8. I'm off by about 2 1/2 years. Which frankly I think is pretty good considering I eat like crap and never exercise. Chris' real age is like 36 so he's 2 years older too. How old are you? Find out: http://www.realage.com/reg/regvar/st1.aspx?mod=LONGFORM

The Club

Man when Shonda Rhimes gets it right she really gets it right. In tonight's episode of Grey's Anatomy after George's dad dies Christina goes to meet him outside. Even though they have not been speaking, even though there are people closer to him and he appeared to want to be alone, Christina went. And she said something like this, "There's a club. A Dead Dad's club. And you don't get to be in it until you're in it. Sure you might sympathize and feel sorry for someone but until you feel that loss you really can't know how it feels. George, I'm really sorry that you are part of the club." If you didn't see the show she then admits that her own father died when she was 9. His reply is that he doesn't know how to exist in a world where his father doesn't. And she says something like , "Yeah...that never goes away."

I have said most of those words myself. When my mother died I thought of all the people before me without parents and thought, man this is one group I don't want to be a part of...Cindy Hall, John Link, Kim MacDowell. I didn't want to be in that club! And when people lost their parents after me and I would go to the services they inevitably say "It sucks" or something like it. And my response is always the same. "I know. I know it sucks. I just wish you didn't have to know." I said it to Kim Hanjack and my cousin Nate. Probably to Kim and/or Johnny Clark. My friend Heather. Because I know when their parents died they thought of me and said "Man, Suzie Tetro. That is a club I didn't want to be in." And now they know. They know exactly what I felt. They're part of the club. And it never goes away.

Welcome Ryan Jay!

My new adorable nephew was born this morning at 1:37 am! He's 8lbs 15 oz and 20 inches. Very sweet and snuggly! Congrats to Sally, who was a trooper through it all. And to new Dad, Steve and new big brother Zachary! Can't wait to spend more time with him.

Birds Nests

Spend all your time waiting
for that second chance
for a break that would make it okay
there's always one reason
to feel not good enough
and it's hard at the end of the day
I need some distraction
oh beautiful release
memory seeps from my veins
let me be empty
and weightless and maybe
I'll find some peace tonight

in the arms of an angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort there

so tired of the straight line
and everywhere you turn
there's vultures and thieves at your back
and the storm keeps on twisting
you keep on building the lie
that you make up for all that you lack
it don't make no difference
escaping one last time
it's easier to believe in this sweet madness oh
this glorious sadness that brings me to my knees

in the arms of an angel
fly away from here
from this dark cold hotel room
and the endlessness that you fear
you are pulled from the wreckage
of your silent reverie
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort there
you're in the arms of the angel
may you find some comfort here

~Angel, Sarah McLachlan