Keeping us on our toes!

Where to start . . . As I mentioned in our last update, Alli and Garrett flew back to WA with Adele (i.e. Gramma) April 2nd to do some work on our new house.  Fortunately, it was not a full flight so Alli had her own seat but decided to stay awake the majority of the flight. Good thing she is such a good natured little girl or that could have been a very long flight :)  Alli does great traveling and adapting to new surroundings, thank goodness.  She was very happy to see her Gram and get reaquainted with the grandpas, great-grandparents, cousins, aunts & uncles.  She loved showing off how great she can walk and run these day :)  I flew in that weekend to help work on the house. We got a ton completed thanks to the help of our families ~ we are so lucky to have family members that know what they are doing when it comes to remodeling.

 

As you know, we bought a brand-new house so all we were really doing was adding "us" to the house. It originally came with wire shelving, which I detest, so as part of our purchase agreement, we had the builder remove all of the wire and fix the walls.  Garrett and my dad completed the coat closet, linen closets and pantry. 

 

We are having a company do custom shelving in the Master closet as well as a custom built-in office. We will have to work on Alli's closet and guest room closet on our next visit.  We also did a ton of painting. We went for earth tones in every room but Alli's.  The living room is a chocolate brown, the Master bedroom, bathrooms, and office are all tan, and the dining room (by far our biggest project) is an olive green with white wainscoting.

Alli's room is adorable.  We painted it spearmint green on top with green and white stripes on the bottom.  I have to thank my wonderful friend Michelle for the idea ~ future baby McDonald's room is blue and white stripes.  Garrett and I loved it and asked if we could copy them.  I had to return to work that Monday so Adele graciously offered to paint the stripes (I cannot say I was sorry to miss doing that!)  As you can see from the pictures, she did a FABULOUS job. 

All we have left to do in Alli's room is put up the chair rail. It was exhausting but fun working on the house and we are so anxious to move back there!!!

Now for the update on Alli . . . she's part of the reason that we're not sure when we'll be able to move. We need to get her eating and weight issues under control before we move.  Now that we have such a great team of doctors working to address these issues, we are hesitant to switch.  Alli had her follow-up with her GI doc last Thursday.  The GREAT news is that all of the scary tests came back negative and she does not have reflux so no more Zantac ~ she is thrilled about this.  She is slightly low on iron and Vit D so she's on a vitamin now that she does not love!  They are re-running one of the tests concerning her absorption of fat because the results were not clear.  She is up to 17 lbs 13 oz so she gained 7 oz in the last 3 weeks. This was a good thing (although it doesn't sound like much) because the GI doc said that if she had not gained, she planned to hospitalize her and place a feeding tube that day ~ WHAT?!?!  That made us nervous but thankfully, she gained.  Because she gained, the GI doc wants to wait another month before trying an appetite stimulant but agreed that if she does not gain substantially in the next month, we will begin Alli on an appetite stimulant ~ can we say "fat pill"? :)  We would like to just start it now but agreed to wait until her 15 month appointment to see where she's at.  We're praying she will finally hit 18 lbs!  The bummer is that she is working on more teeth and they are causing her so much pain that she is not at all interested in eating right now.  One step forward, a giant leap back. We'll see what happens . . .

Our trip to D.C.

Well, I am officially back at work today and healing nicely from the appendectomy. Alli enjoyed having my mom out here while I recovered and certainly wore her out :)  Alli is still not great with the eating but we go back next Thursday to meet with her GI doc so hopefully we'll get some assistance or answers then.  Last Friday, my mom returned to WA and Garrett's mom arrived here.  We went to the Nordstrom opening in Burlington but because Miss Alli decided to sleep in, we missed the speeches and walking on the red carpet. Oh well, it was fun and Alli was thrilled because she got more pink bunnies (her lovey that shows up in many pictures!) Apparently, you can never have too many bunnies :)

On Saturday, Garrett and I flew down to D.C. for a weekend of fun. My law school hosted a weekend-long event culminating in a swearing in ceremony at the US Supreme Court. We had a great time visiting with my former classmates and touring the city. It is such a great place to visit but we overdid it a little with our walking on Sunday and were both feeling it!!!

Here we are at the cocktail reception hosted by my law school at the swanky Hay Adams hotel.

Touring DC ~ as close as we got to the White House :)

The actual swearing in ceremony was quite brief but exciting as we saw the justices up close and got to meet Justice Ginsberg ~ not exactly my favorite justice (yes, I'm a Scalia and Thomas fan!) but it was still fun and made for some good pictures.

With Dean John O'Brien and President Marty Murphy ~ both of whom have been wonderful to me!

Before the swearing in ceremony

After the ceremony with Justice Ginsburg

As much fun as we had, we were most excited to return home to see Alli, who gave us big smiles and snuggles when we got there!!! Nothing better than that! She and her Gramma had a very funfilled weekend. Garrett and Alli will fly back to WA with Adele tomorrow and I plan to joint them this weekend. Other than that, there's not much going on with us. As I mentioned, I'm healing nicely and no longer need pain meds but our trip to D.C. was a friendly reminder that I still need to take it easy ~ I'm terrible at that . . .

More Excitement for the Fishers

Well this week proved to be just as crazy as the last few. On Wednesday night, I began feeling a lot of abdominal pain. My whole stomach just hurt. By 11 p.m. I was writhing on the floor in pain. Garrett gave me some Tylenol P.M. to help me sleep. That worked a little, I got about 2 hours sleep ~ I kept waking up in pain. I got up early because I had my yearly exam Thursday morning. I mentioned the pain to my doc, but to be fair, I played down how much it hurt. She said that I probably just had an ovarian cyst. So I proceeded to go to work. I had so much planned for Thursday. To start, I had a 10 a.m. meeting. Sitting there for almost an hour was torture, I was in so much pain but didn't want to say anything. I could barely walk because every time I stepped with my right leg, I felt immense pain. I got back to my office and decided to call my regular doctor. The nurse told me I needed to come in right away. I asked if it could wait until the afternoon because I had another meeting at 12:30. She said that was not advisable but she would check with my doctor and call me back. She called back within 10 minutes and told me I needed to come in immediately. I knew I felt awful, but I still figured it was not big deal so I told work that I would try to be back that afternoon ~ yeah right! The drive to my doctor's office was torture, I felt every bump in the road ~ OUCH! My doctor took one look at me, touched my side and said it was the most obvious case of appendicitis he'd seen in a long time. While we waited for the surgeon, he sent me for blood work. They offered me a wheel chair, but of course I refused ~ I can be so stubborn sometimes. As soon as my blood was drawn, my doctor walked me up to the surgeon's office. The surgeon concurred that it was most likely appendicitis but gave me the option of surgery or a CT scan to verify. I chose the CT scan because I was not excited for surgery, okay so maybe I was stalling but I really didn't want surgery. Fortunately, they took pity on me because I was in so much pain so I got two shots of demoral in the tush. The CT scan confirmed that I had appendicitis so I was prepped for surgery. Thankfully, Alli's former teacher Alyssa agreed to come over and watch Alli so Garrett could be there for my surgery. The surgery was a success and I no longer have my appendix. I was released from the hospital this morning. I'm still very sore and cannot lift more than 10 lbs ~ no lifting Alli :( ~ but at least I'm now home. My mom flew out yesterday to help with my recovery ~ thank God for moms! Who knew something so useless like an appendix could cause so much pain. My doctors gave me a nice lecture on how I should have come in the night when I first felt the pain but I really figured it was nothing. Guess not!

We have hope!!!

Well, as is usually the case, things with Alli got worse, before they started to get better. After her weight loss, her pediatrician reassured us that it was likely a result of her learning to walk, which made sense to us because she seemed to be eating well. Unfortunately, right after that, she essentially stopped eating and drinking almost anything. She also decided she is way too independent for bottles ~ she's a big girl now. We were stressing quite a bit over this but figured it was just another bump in the road, until March 6th, when she started sleeping 20 hours/day. When she was awake, she was very alert and playful but did not want to eat and could only last about 1.5 - 2 hours. Once we realized that she was sleeping 20 hours/day, we called the doctor. Fortunately, Alli's pediatric office sees patients on Saturday and Sunday so we went in that Sunday. Because she was so alert while she was awake, the doctor told us she was fine but to check in the next day. Things got worse again, by that Tuesday, she was only taking about 4 oz/day so back to the doctor we went (poor Garrett was in FL for work and caught an early flight home). Alli's pedi prescribed her Zantac, thinking maybe she has silent reflux. The deal was that we would try it for a week but he would move forward with getting her in with a GI specialist at Boston Children's Hospital. Well, he worked very quickly because we had our first appointment with the GI on Thursday!!! She is running a ton of tests and we finally feel like someone is going to get to the bottom of Alli's issues and help her. Prasie God, we finally are getting help! We do not believe there will be a quick fix but at least now, we are working with doctors who acknowledge that there is a problem that we need to solve. The relief and hope we now feel is amazing. God really does answer prayers! We go back to Children's this Friday to meet with their nutritionists because our GI doc agrees that our past nutrition appointments were not helpful ~ she agreed with us that we don't need to hear that we are doing everything right, we need to analyze the data and formulate a plan ~ FINALLY! Alli will also have her Cystic Fibrosis test on Friday, fortunately, that shouldn't require any needles (poor Alli got my small veins so the blood draw last week was not pleasant!) We go back to the GI doc on April 10th. We will keep you posted on Alli. Please continue to pray for her.

The Law of the Garbage Truck

The following story was shared with me through an email forward and I just had to share it with everyone. Imagine how much more peaceful we would feel if we could always have this attitude . . .


One day I hopped in a taxi and we took off for the airport . We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. My taxi driver slammed on his breaks, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us. My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.


So I asked, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!" This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call, "The Law of the Garbage Truck."


He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile , wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets.

The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so..... "Love the people who treat you right. Pray for the ones who don't."

It's been one of those weeks . . .

Many of you know of the uphill battles we've faced with Alli and gaining weight.  She's always been a little peanut but growing fine until last Fall when she got repeated ear infections.  She lost weight and we've been struggling ever since to get her to eat and gain.  We've been working with a team of specialists to address her low weight and had another meeting today.  In the past, the main advice we were given was to "relax" and things will get better.  Well, in the last month, we've tried to do that and thought it was working.  We could not have been more wrong.  Since her 1 year appointment on Feb. 4th, Alli has LOST 5 oz.  We thought for sure that she would be at least 18 lbs, but nope, she was less than she was 3.5 weeks ago.  I think the most frustrating part was they gave us absolutely no advice ~ just said that we're doing everything right.  Apparently NOT or she would not be losing weight!!!  I feel so helpless.  My one job as a parent (aside from loving her with my whole heart) is to feed her so she can grow and I'm failing miserably at that basic job. I have gotten as creative as I can and I am out of ideas ~ what do you do with a child that just won't eat enough?

The Air Force Does it Again . . .

What a roller coaster ride the past six months have been . . .

Last Fall, we made the decision to separate from the Air Force and move back to WA. Originally, Garrett's last day was going to be May 18, 2008 (terminal leave begins about a month and a half earlier).  Then we decided to extend until August 1, 2008 ~ typically, such a decision is no problem so long as your commander signs off on it, which Garrett's did. So we went forward under the assumption that we would be moving home sometime in Summer.  Well, the Air Force decided not to approve the extension, shocking both us and Garrett's co-workers, who attempted to file more paperwork in hopes of changing the decision.  It didn't work ~ we received two more rejections.  Garrett's Lt Col. filed one last request but Garrett was convinced it too would be rejected so he began interviewing for civilian jobs in WA, we bought a house in McCormick Woods, told Alli's school that her last day would be March 27, 2008, and we began planning our move.  This whole time, I was afraid the Air Force would suddenly come back and say "okay, we're extending you," which we no longer wanted.  Garrett was adamant that this would NEVER happen but I continued to be skeptical.  Well, as of 5 p.m. this evening, Garrett has been having to face the fact that "I WAS RIGHT"  That's right, my skepticism was very well deserved because the Air Force has now extended Garrett until August 1, 2008, which means he will not be done until sometime in June.  Ahh, the fun of having no control!!!  Good thing I was pretty convinced this would happen or I would probably be quite upset, as it is, I have said I told you so and not to ever doubt my intutition again ;-)

The Fishers are Moving HOME!!!!

That's right folks, despite all our plans to stay in the Air Force and continue moving around the country, we decided it was time to go home to WA! It's amazing how much your perspective on life and your priorities change once you have a little one


With Alli getting so many little illnesses and not being able to go to day care, we realized how much we want to be around family and friends. It's time. We so want Alli to grow up with her grandparents, aunt, uncles, and cousins. We miss home and are ready to return.

That said, we have no specifics yet. Our house in MA will be going on the market next week so we are busy making sure it is ready to show (thanks Mom for coming out to help with this!!!)

Garrett will not officially be out of the Air Force until the beginning of May (he will be on terminal leave about two months prior to that). Now, we are in the process of searching for jobs in WA. We are both working with head hunters so hopefully it will not be too painful of a process! Once we have the jobs (or at least one job) lined up, we'll be heading home. Not sure yet where we will live . . . but I guess that's part of the fun We'll let you know when we have more details.

Please keep us in your prayers!

We finally have a Nordstrom in MA!!!!!

All of you on the West Coast will understand how exciting this is. For those who have never been to a Nordstrom, I assure you, it is fabulous!!! Yesterday, Nordstrom opened at the Natick Mall (about 30 minutes from our house) and Alli, Adele and I were there for the festivities (Garrett decided to skip it and go to work!).  We got there about 9 a.m. (store opened at 10) and enjoyed the hoopla.

There was coffee and tea in silver serving containers, as well as Nordstrom bottled water and donuts.

There was also a cosmetics "tailgate" party so we got lots of fun samples :) They had an orchestra playing music as well as a radio station. It was quite exciting. Right before the doors opened, the Nordstrom family made some remarks and confetti streamed down!

As the doors opened and we walked in, employees lined the store clapping and cheering for the shoppers - we felt like we were on the "red carpet" :) The media was there filming and snapping loads of pictures. Alli was given a Nordstrom balloon and many photographers hurried to take a picture of one of the "littlest Nordstrom shoppers." 

We headed straight for the Children's section, where Alli got some new headbands and another Bunny lovey.  We tried out the women's lounge so Alli could have something to eat before we went to the Cafe for lunch. 

What a great meal, and we were sitting right by the Nordstrom family, who could not get enough of Alli. 

We did not know who they were at the time, but Adele was sure that they were important folks as they looked like dignitaries.  Turns out she was right.  After lunch, we headed back to the lounge so Miss Alli could have a diaper change; we were sitting in the lounge when in walks Mrs. Nordstrom.  She was so excited to see Alli again and leaned down to play with her.  Adele commented that she looked like a dignitary and she said "my last name is Nordstrom."  She introduced herself as Jeanne Nordstrom and shook our hands.  I took a picture of her with Alli and Adele. 

Talk about a classy lady, so kind and down to earth.  She loved Alli; apparently her youngest grandbaby is already 11 years old! 

What a fun day, I highly recommend attending a Nordstrom opening should you ever get the chance . . .

Dr. Seuss for Nursing Mommies . . .

Since we're still nursing and both Alli and I love Dr. Seuss, I thought I would share . . .


Would you nurse him in the park?
Would you nurse him in the dark?
Would you nurse him with a Boppy?
And when your boobs are feeling floppy?

I would nurse him in the park
I would nurse him in the dark.
I'd nurse without or with a boppy.
Floppy boobs will never stop me.

Can you nurse with a seatbelt on?
Can you nurse from dusk till dawn?
Though he may pinch me, bite me, pull,
I will nurse him till he's full!

Can you nurse and make some soup?
Can you nurse and join the group?
It makes him healthy, strong and smart,
Mommy's milk is the best start!

Would you nurse him at the game?
Would you nurse him in the rain?
In front of those who dare complain?
I would nurse him at the game.
I would nurse him in the rain.

As for those who ban lactation,
I have the perfect explanation:
Mommy's milk is tailor-made;
It's the perfect food, you need no aid.


Some may scoff and some may wiggle,
avert their eyes or even giggle.
To those who can be cruel and rude,
remind them, "Breast's the perfect food!"


I would never scoff or giggle,
roll my eyes or even wiggle.
I would not be crass or rude,
I know breast milk's the perfect food.


We make as much milk as we need.
The perfect temp for every feed.
There's no compare to milk from breast-
the perfect food, above the rest.


Those nursing smiles are oh so sweet.
Mommy's milk is such a treat.
Human milk just can't be beat.

I will nurse, in any case,
on the street or in your face.
I will not let my baby cry,
I'll meet her needs, I'll always try.

It's not about what's good for you,
it's best for babies, through and through.

I will nurse him in my home,
I will nurse him when I roam,
leave me be, lads and ma'am.
I will nurse him, Mom I am.