Worcester Wonderland

Beautiful Weather!

2009-03-20T11:07:00.000-07:00

It is so very nice to be able to go outside and enjoy the fresh air! We are headed to my Mom's tomorrow for a BBQ. Everything is going great... Ava did end up with Eosinophilic Gastritis last fall, just a mild form that was cured with steroids. We are still avoiding milk/soy as much as possible, but... she seems to be OK with SOME things, but on the other hand, i notice she is moodier... so, honestly I have no idea... haha They have not diagnosed her with asthma, but... she seems to get wheezing and awful coughing with every cold/virus now-a-days we are thankful for the in-home nebulizer and albuterol!!! We had a super fun St. Patrick's Day party at our house. John made a kegorator!!! Mmmmm Draft beer at our convenience... mmmmm its NICE!!!!! (and dangerous at the same time) I am sure we will have perfected chicken wings in no time... haha

Biopsy results

2008-11-15T06:12:00.000-08:00

The eosinophil count was not high enough to be EG... but, it was still elevated, so they're doing some testing (possibly more food allergies) and in the mean time, she is on a Steroid for the inflammation. THANK YOU Melissa (my cousin) She has been a wonderful sounding board and wealth of info as I have been so confused the last week. For now... this is what we know, the shortened version!

Biopsy/endoscopy for Ava

2008-10-23T16:50:00.000-07:00

November 4th we head back to the Cleveland Clinic for what they call a EGD and biopsies of the esophagus, and a few other places lower in the GI tract... they are looking for this crazy Eosinophilic Esophagitis... ha... try and say THAT once!!! if it is positive... not too sure whats next, but if it is negative, we go up on her prevacid/pepcid or SOMETHING to treat the GERD more aggressively. She is still little, so they will have to put her out with the breathing tube... stinks, I wont lie, BUT! We were just through all of this with her in August! SO, kinda "Old Hat" because some of the worry was fear of the unknown... know what I mean? Ill know exactly what to expect this time! its in the same EXACT place!!! This makes us feel alot better about it. I think she might have a new BFF or first love... Her GI Dr. Krishnan... HAHAHA!!!! When we talked on the phone between last apt and now, he would remember her!!! He really couldn't have better bedside manners! He walks in the door and goes STRAIGHT to her! he kneeled on the floor with her, and they sang a little, counted fingers and got reacquainted. He picked her up, and then sat her on the table. While he does his exam, he tells her what he is doing and plays cute little games with her... the whole time, she is interrupting him to say "But, my SHOOOOOSSIEEEEEEESSSS!!!!!!" We laughed at her... it was too funny! at the end of the apt, He held her hand and walked her to behind the check-in desk, and opened the treasure chest full of goodies... she picked a sucker out, handed it to him, and then picked one out for herself!!! HAHAHA!!! What a HOOT!!!

Fall pictures? Gread deal and BRILLIANT photographer!

2008-10-07T06:52:00.000-07:00

Tegan has been photographing us for years!!!

Hurry and book your session today as spots will fill up fast. Please feel free to bring any fall decorations you may want to incorporate into the photos! Halloween costumes are most definitely welcome! For Directions please inquire, we will be holding this awesome session from 1-5 at beautiful Squire's Castle at the Chagrin Reservation off of Rt. 6 in NE Ohio. Your $35.00 deposit will be due before your session will begin! Contact me Tegan at dreamlandtree@yahoo.com to book your session time today! dreamlandtree@yahoo.com If you would like to view more of my portfolio please check out www. dreamlandtreephotodesign. com
ps... tell her I sent you!!!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

2008-09-25T17:54:00.000-07:00

We are visiting Ava's friend Lilly and my good friend Jill in Indiana... the girls are sooooo cute and play so well! its adorable! and they both are feeling under the weather... its amazing... HAHA Here is a video of Ava singing 'Itsy Bitsy Spider" in the bathtub... we were singing nursery rhymes, and lately this is her favorite!!!

Ava's Surgery is OVER!!!!!

2008-08-14T20:14:00.000-07:00

*HUGEST SIGH* what a nightmare!!! I never realized in the slightest how hard it is on the parents!!! sheewwww! She is just fine! a TROOPER!!! We are so incredibly proud of her! A close friend of mine offered to be there in support and then on top of it, she is a professional photographer, and said she could bring her camera... at first I didn't know what to think... a part of me didn't want to ever think about the surgery again because it was painful, but something told me to go along with it... to have the pictures to show Ava one day, so she can SEE what happened the day she got her battle scar... Boy am I EVER glad!!! Tegan did such a tasteful job of capturing the love we have as a family... I was speechless as I looked at them. She has been shooting Ava since before she was born, so it only made sense... Here is a slideshow... I hope you can see them the way I do... click here

I can not begin to try to thank you for thinking and praying for her... It really meant the WORLD to us!!! I think we had the lights to the table including all of the bodies in the room covered in prayer!!!

Sooo FUNNY!

2008-08-05T19:46:00.000-07:00

hahaha!!!!!

Ava Counts to 10!!!

2008-07-28T07:34:00.001-07:00

She is too smart for her own good!!! Or is it ours???

Island Festival at KI!

2008-07-28T07:22:00.000-07:00

SUCH a BLAST!!! It was refreshing to really relax and have a
good time like we used to!!! It had been too long!!! Ava
stayed with John's parents and they spoiled her! She had a
blast!
*click view all images* anyone figure out how to do these
slideshows better? let me know!!!

Play Dough

2008-07-27T16:59:00.000-07:00

We made a (horrible) Cat out of Play Dough... it was the first time play dough was made into an animal for her... HAHA... she was sooo surprised... the look on her face was priceless... i wish I could have gotten THAT with the camera!!!

FIRST sailboat ride!

2008-07-20T20:13:00.000-07:00

We have been WAITING for this day for a long time! It was sooooooo FUN! We are continually amazed at her sea legs! haha! it was very humid, and pretty sticky, but once we were moving with both sails, the breeze was pretty nice! we were out about 1 and a half hours! Ava was a TROOPER for it being past her nap time! Here are some pictures! We went with Grandpa Worcester, Ava's Godmother Erica, Dave, and Hannah!!! John was so busy being our Captain! Ava even steered for a bit!!!

Boo Boo all better!!!

2008-07-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

hee heeeeee!!! her sentences AMAZE me still!!!! she skinned her knee yesterday pretty good, I didnt think it was too bad, so I didnt think anything of it till I saw it this morning... *time to invest in band aids... this one was OVERKILL but it worked!* rite of passage, right??? HA!

First Tea Party

2008-07-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

holy MOLY it was FUN... more for US! hahaha! we were at mom and dad's Saturday and had a little tea party for Ava... toooo cute!!!!

for some reason I can not by any means get these slideshows to fit, so you can always hit "view all images" and it will send you to photobucket to watch. weird... anyways... ENJOY!

4th of July and DAD IS HOME!!!

2008-07-14T13:56:00.000-07:00

sheeewwww!!! What a crazy few weeks! John, Ava, and I went up to KI with Aunt DeAnn and Uncle Sam over the 4th. Ava had such a BLAST! Uncle Sam was WAITING to take her to walk on the beach! It was wonderful, we all had a really good time!
Dad is home and all is going great! It is still pretty crazy to think all I have to do is go there to see him rather than drive all the way to the VA!!! haha! He said he he still feels awkward being home, but it has been 4 months! I do not blame him!!! here is a slide show of some pictures! mostly of you know who... ha

This was the 4th...

Pretend play

2008-07-06T22:57:00.000-07:00

She is pretend eating!!! hee heee!!!

Ava running around at KI

2008-07-06T20:00:00.000-07:00

This is a video of Ava running around Caddy Shack on Kelley's Island. She LOVED watching her "antennas" wiggle in the shadow... I think she thought she owned the place!!! HA!

HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY AUNT DEANN!!!

2008-07-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

We took Ava to portrait innovations about a month ago... it was so hard for me to keep quiet about this... HAHA. Aunt DeAnn made a pillow/blanket for her kids... they were unable to have children, and got rid of them. She didnt know we still had them, and so we took pictures of Ava with BOTH of them... AND an obnoxious sign... haha
the pictured I have upbove are a VERY few of them... they all were so beautiful!

A little Sad

2008-06-28T06:04:00.000-07:00

So, Gerad leaves tomorrow. It is a little sad... He will be at Ft Benning GA doing paperwork for 4 weeks, and then we are not sure if he gets to come home or not. His paperwork says Iraq, but like he said, there is always a chance this is not the case. Gerad, we will ALL miss you terribly! We love you so very much! It will not be the same without you! LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU, LOVE YOU!

Ava's surgery date

2008-06-17T13:36:00.000-07:00

Is August 12th at the Cleveland Clinic Downtown. Her surgeon is Dr. Di Fiore. The receptionist will call us on the 11th to talk about fasting instructions and that is when we will have a time of day. ALSO!!! They will let one parent in the operating room until she falls asleep. yaaahhhooooo!!! I wonder if they have group anesthesia rates? HAHA Just kidding... it will be so much easier on us now that we are able to KNOW she was not scared as she fell asleep!

She won a trophy!

2008-06-16T05:54:00.000-07:00

For Judge's choice most beautiful 1yr old. WE ARE SO PROUD!
Copy and paste this to your browser www.photogenicbaby.com/winners/clevelandwinners.html
You will be able to see Ava's little picture!!!

Father's Day

2008-06-15T06:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Father's Day!!! John, Ava, and I will be going up to Great Northern mall to get ava's pictures from the photogenic contest. not expecting a win... i am just excited for the pictures!!! She was so stinkin' CUTE! Dad is doing well! the PT/OT there at the VA is not at the same time every day. He goes at different times... SOON, we will get a "family meeting" scheduled so we can all sit down with everyone and figure out how long he will stay there. He can leave right after the brace is off, or hang out for a little after to get a jump start on mobility without the restriction. HOPEFULLY the hoist that we had ordered from Metro will go unused!!! Ultimately, it is Dad's decision. We will all be here no matter when the WONDERFUL SPECTACULAR DAY he comes home FINALLY appears...

***EDITED: Ava won Judge's Choice Most Beautiful 1yr Old!!! We were shocked! There were soooo many beautiful babies there!!! We are so very proud of our little princess! Tomorrow, they will have the pictures up on their website and also a snapshot of Ava and I receiving the trophy! I will post the site then!

Good Morning!

2008-06-12T06:06:00.000-07:00

GOOD MORNING!!!
Dad is still settling in at the VA Hospital... Ava's Cardiologist is out of town, so we are waiting on the reports to be faxed to her surgeon before anything is scheduled. By next week, I will know dates!!! I should be able to hold her *or her hand atleast* as she falls asleep, right? I SURE HOPE SO! If not, I will have to get over it, but gosh it'll be so much easier on the Mama if I CAN!!! HAHA!
soooo those are the updates for now!!!

"NOOOO MAMA! Me TRYYYYY"

2008-06-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

GOSH... you know... They really don't lie when they tell you babies grow so FAST!!! Didn't I just have her!? She turned 18mo about 2 weeks ago... NUTS!!! You can't help but love it, though... watching them as they experiences everything for the first time, and seeing their reactions to all of it... I like to hide as I stare at her playing by herself... she baffles me! Recently, she was rocking her baby while singing her "Rock-A-Bye Baby". She has been singing that for a while now, but... something about it caught me off guard... Did we REALLY create her? Why would we ever want to have another when she is just so DANG PERFECT! Isn't that jinxing ourselves? HA! Kidding... One day... One day...

I recorded a little clip of Miss Ava... I was trying to ger her to say "Wah-wah-Come" (Your Welcome) because it is so stinkin' cute... WELL... she OBVIOUSLY hated that I was telling her to do something... HA...

Dad has been doing really well! He was transfered to the VA hospital downtown, which is only about 8mi/10min further... not too bad!!! AND!!! It seems as though they will be doing more things for him than Metro at this point. He is going to be weaned off unnecessary medications, they are going to be testing him to see if he can go without the foley, and electro-therapy! Get THIS... he wiggled a TOE!!! How exciting is THAT!? We all hope and pray this electro-therapy will help him regain more movement!!! Time will tell! If you ever have any questions about him... don't be please ask here!!! This is mostly the point of this! So you all can find updates in your time, without feeling like you are bothering Mom (not that anyone has)... ALSO Let me tell you how wonderful it is to see his unique sense of humor returned!!! he-he!

Ava is doing great! EATING for a change which is about stupefying!!! haha! Her surgery will be scheduled shortly... We as a family decided it was best to push it off for a little while... luckily it is fatty tissue that is stuck in the abdominal hernia, not bowel, so her surgeon said we could hold off for a little bit to allow Dad to settle and push some distance between things... We are blessed to have this option!

Thanks for stopping by!

2008-06-09T21:13:00.000-07:00

OK... Here is our first attempt at this... We will be keeping you all informed of everything that is current!!! Thanks all for looking, and please leave us a comment so we know you were here!!!

THANKS, AGAIN!!!!
-Megan