YES . . . a lawyer CAN pass an ethics exam!!!

I got the news today that I passed the ethics portions of the WA Bar Exam

(only portion I was required to take).

Not officially admitted in WA until I pay my fee and take the official oath,

but I'm getting closer ;-)

WHEW!

Easter

Today was a wonderful Easter!

The morning began by waking the kiddos a bit early so we could have breakfast at church before the service.

After everyone was dressed and looking quite spiffy, we went downstairs and found some surprises . . .

The Easter Bunny had "hidden" eggs in the living room and left baskets of books for Alli & Eli.

Eli went straight for the eggs :-)

 

Alli was more excited by her basket at that point and loved her new Pinkalicious and Fancy Nancy books.

Once he realized what was in his basket, Eli decided to sit down and read Goodnight Moon (his favorite!).

The kiddos both hunted for a few eggs but then it was time to go to church

they "found" the rest of the eggs that afternoon.

When we got in the garage, we noticed our car was missing!

In its place was a mini Cadillac Escalade from the Easter Bunny.

Alli hopped right in but then got in the passenger seat, so Eli hopped in the driver's seat.

Interesting because he can't reach the pedal.

Alli decided to push the pedal while Eli had the wheel ~ the picture was priceless:

Alli ecstatic, Eli shocked, and Mommy terrified!

We decided from now on, Alli must control both the pedal and the wheel ;-)

After taking the new car for a quick spin, it was off to church for a yummy breakfast and Easter service.

Alli enjoyed hearing about Jesus rising!

After church, we stopped by to see Ducky Gramma and Papa.

Then it was off to see Great Pop.

Finally with two tired kiddos, it was back home for naps, egg hunting and more driving the new car

before we went to Barbie Gramma and Pop Pop's for dinner.

A wonderful Easter and great reminder of all we have in Christ!

FLCC Easter Egg Hunt & Fun in the Sun

Today was the annual FLCC Easter Egg Hunt and Extravaganza.

Both kiddos were very excited not only to be hunting eggs again, but also to see sunshine!

As soon as we walked in, we saw the Easter Bunny.

Of course, we stopped for a picture.

Alli was not too sure of the giant Bunny and Eli just wanted to get at his basket of candy ;-)

Then we headed in to the sanctuary to await the hunting instructions.

I love that the pictures make Eli look grumpy ~ he wasn't, just had a mouthful of chocolate!

Both kiddos had a blast hunting for eggs and decided to stay on the playground to play after the hunt!

It was such a beautiful day that we thought it was a great idea.

 Once the hunt was completed and the playing was done, it was time to head home for lunch and naps.

Alli decided to skip her nap that day, which wound up being a big mistake!

After his nap, Eli was so excited to play outside but was a little confused by the state of his yard.

We'd had it aerated and thatched while he was snoozing.

Oh well, didn't stop him from having a grand time playing!

And where was Alli while Eli was playing? 

Exhausted, grumpy little Alli was pouting in her fish chair. 

Eli tried to cheer her up without any success.

We called this set of pictures "Sweet & Sour"

Poor Alli was in bed by 6 p.m.

Guess we won't be skipping naps anymore ;-)

It was a great day!

McCormick Woods Easter Egg Hunt

Last Saturday, we enjoyed the annual McCormick Woods Easter Egg Hunt.

Alli still wasn't feeling great, and it showed, but both kids seemed to enjoy getting some eggs.

Once Eli figured out what to do, he was having a blast,

though he wanted to open each egg as he found it :-)

Adele graciously offered her services to our neighbor, who was running the event

and Uncle Z came to watch the kiddos ~ they adore Uncle Z!!!

Fun day!

Alli is such a little trooper

It was a rough weekend.  Alli still wasn't feeling well, had little energy and was very irritable.  Lots of naps and snuggles took place in our house.  Yesterday, instead of going to preschool, Alli and I went back to Dr. D's for 3 hours of testing, which included 5 blood draws.  She was less than pleased about this but really did a great job.  Thankfully, Dr. D called last night to say that the tests looked good ~ whew!  However, given what happened, Friday's test results, and a concern last summer with her drinking and going potty so frequently, Dr. D said his gut feeling is that she is a prediabetic and will need to be monitored closely.  He is having us meet with the endocrinology clinic at Mary Bridge and has advised us to cut all high fructose corn syrup out of Alli's diet.  She needs to have a well-balanced diet and eat at regular intervals.  Once this virus is out of her system (it just keeps hanging on!) a couple of weeks, they will repeat the testing.  Also, she is going to have periodic urine testing to check for sugar.  All in all, still scary but we are feeling so much better.  Obviously, we are praying that she never develops this disease but know that if she does, we will be able to handle it.

Home and Praising God ~ NO DIABETES!!!

I apologize for not updating again yesterday but it was such an emotional roller coaster that G and I were completely drained by the end of the day.  Let me start with the GREAT news ~ they do not believe Alli has diabetes but is a rare one whose illness stressed her little body enough to mimic it.  Thank you God!!!  Now for our roller coaster of a day . . .

The day began with Alli begging to go to ballet.  Her fever was down but I still didn't think it was a great idea.  I decided to let her get in her outfit and by the time she was dressed, her energy was zapped.  She agreed ballet was a bad idea.  We went to see Dr. D. about the fever that wasn't letting up (she'd had it since Monday with little relief).  She has a chest cold but Dr. D. didn't think that would account for the high fevers and he wanted to rule out a a UTI.  I thought it was odd since she didn't seem to be having any issues there but what do I know.  Boy did things change quickly in that room!  We were told the urine test would take about 10 minutes.  Within 3 minutes, the nurse, lab tech and Dr. D. had come in the room asking all sorts of questions about her eating, drinking, energy, etc.  I was shocked and had little idea of what was going on but could tell it wasn't good.  They indicated that she had a lot of sugar and protein in her urine (I knew enough from my pregnancy check-ups that we were talking about diabetes).  They immediately did a blood glucose test ~ 173.  Again, I had no idea what that meant but Dr. D. said he believed she had early onset diabetes and I had to take her to Mary Bridge Children's ER immediately and he would call to let them know we were coming.  He told me it was not a complete emergency and I had time to drop off Eli and pack a bag as he suspected we would be there for a few days, but we needed to get there in the next hour or so.  Alli had no idea what was going on and I mustered all of my acting skills to make sure she wasn't concerned.  A call to a good friend so I could have a minor breakdown, then a stop at my parents to drop off Eli and we were headed home to pack our bag.  I called G to let him know what was happening and he was on his way to meet us at Mary Bridge.  Alli thought it was cool that she and Mommy were packing a bag with her books, bathrobe, slippers and pjs.  Right as we're leaving, Alli tells me she's hungry.  That was my first real panic moment (not in front of her!) as I suddenly realized, I didn't have a clue what she could eat anymore.  I knew sugar was bad for diabetics but I have no idea what doesn't have sugar.  I told her she could have her water and we would ask the doctors what we could eat.  Keep in mind, she hadn't eaten since 8:30 a.m., and the poor thing didn't get to eat until after 7 p.m. last night.

When we got to Mary Bridge, they brought us back immediately to check her vitals and take another glucose test ~ 133 at this point.  We were taken back to a room that was less than pleasant.  The child in the room next to us appeared to be there for mental issues and was restrained (we didn't see anything but boy could we hear it).  Poor Alli didn't know what to think!  Thankfully, they moved us to a different room, far away.

The resident doc had a fabulous bedside manner and had Alli smiling.  By this point, G and I were confused (and starting to feel hopeful) as no one seemed to be focusing on the diabetes issues but more interested in her fever (102.8 at Mary Bridge) and cold . . . or so we thought.  The resident said he was going to talk to his attending.  We figured maybe that would be it.  Yeah, we were naive.  He came back just moments later with the attending, an older doc who looked a little like Santa and he also had a fabulous bedside manner.  Unlike everyone else, he got right into the diabetes and told us that based on the tests at Dr. D's, he was certain she had it.  In fact, he said if she didn't, they would be scratching their heads.  Their plan was to do blood and urine tests not to confirm it (they believed she had it) but to determine whether she needed to be admitted to the ICU or could be on the regular floor.  G and I were in shock.  We had just been told our baby girl had a disease that would change her life drastically.  I was instantly thinking about how to protect her ~ how I would be policing all of her food, terrified that someone might inadvertently give her a cupcake at preschool, wondering how to explain it to her.  Throughout it all, Alli was a trooper, she did not want to be poked again but did so great when they placed the IV. 

Poor kid was hungry, tired and uncomfortable.  She finally fell asleep while watching the Care Bear movie a little before 5 p.m. and slept through the doc coming into the room scratching his head!!!  The tests were showing diabetes was unlikely!!!!  He actually came into the room saying he had good news and bad news.  G and I both assumed the good news was she didn't have to go to the ICU.  Turns out the bad news was they had no idea what was wrong with her ~ at that point, we didn't care.  We were just so happy that it wasn't diabetes.  We had to wait for one more test that would tell them her glucose levels from the previous couple months.  We finally got that result around 7 p.m. ~ she was averaging a sugar level of 97, definitely not diabetes.  Praise God!!! 

Now, it wasn't all great news and we are still a bit concerned as they told us that this is rare and her little body "spilled the sugar and protein" due to the stress of being sick.  The doctor said this type of diabetes has an autoimmune aspect and can be triggered by an illness.  Because her body reacted this way (which apparently is not typical at all), they believe she may have a "tendency" towards diabetes and we will need to be very aware of symptoms.  They are also sending us back to Dr. D first thing next week for further testing.

Now, we are thankful and scared.  In addition to see Dr. D for further testing and monitoring, we will be meeting with a nutritionist just to get a better handle on all of this as we realized we know so little.

Thank you all for your prayers!

prayers for Alli

We are at Mary Bridge Children's Hospital with Alli. They believe she has juvenile (Type 1) diabetes. She's been sick all week with a cold and fever. We took her to see Dr. D this morning because the fever just wasn't letting up. He decided to check for a UTI - no UTI but her urine result was anything but normal, which led to a blood glucose test. That result wasn't good so Dr. D instructed me to drop Eli with someone, pack a bag and head to the Children's Hospital, where we've been all afternoon. Alli is being a trooper but is tired of being poked and wants to eat. Please pray for her to not have diabetes. Please also pray for our strength right now. G and I are in shock right now.

'lil miss sickie and her sidekick

Poor Alli has been sick all week with a nasty cold and fever.

Very little energy so countless hours have been spent in bed watching Disney movies.

Today, Eli decided he would "help" by keeping her company ;-)

I'm not so sure Alli appreciated his attempts at sibling love. 

Poor kid.

Mr. Hollywood

This morning, Eli decided to dress himself . . .

He brought out his wetsuit and swim trunks, saying "on, on"

It was too cute, I had to help him.

Here you have it, Mr. Hollywood himself.

He added the shades all by himself.

Reindeer footie PJs, wetsuit and swim trunks ~ ready for a cold day at the beach!

Princess slippers & Apples

Before G got home from work, while I was making dinner,

Alli decided both she and Eli should wear Princess slippers. 

 Alli was trying to be very sweet and share. 

Poor Eli wasn't quite sure what to think of the pink, frilly, princess slippers.

After dinner, the sibling fun continued with dessert ~ apples & caramel.

This was the first time Eli got to dip in caramel just like his big sister and it was a hit!

Fun times!