Father's Day, Baptism, and a week on the farm!

Father's day was a very busy day. William and I are so honored to be Brady's Godparents. Brady was bapitized in a "mega" celebration. 18 babies in 30 minutes...it was very well organized! Although, I think the coordinator could have been a little nicer!! After the ceremony we went to Brady's house to enjoy some BBQ. After lunch William hit the road back to McKinney and we rode back with Granny for a week on the farm. We had lots of fun going to the park, playing at the flower shop, going to see Brady, eating out, and playing in the sprinklers every evening. On Saturday, we met William in Buffalo. He brought Amy and myself back to McKinney and Mary went back with Granny for another week on the farm for FARM CAMP. Granny and Mary will come back this weekend to celebrate July 4th at the Red, White, and BOOM! here in McKinney.

Amy is a walker!

Amy has been standing alone for a little while now. Today she stood up and walked to a chair!!!! It was so exciting to watch and unfortunatly I didn't have the camera handy. Later on she started to do the same thing, this time I had the camera ready! Although she started off the same, she didn't make it all the way to the chair. The first time she did! As you can see she had to take quite a few little steps to get there. Hopefully, she'll be taking a few more steps and I can capture those later.

Grandma Betty visit and Six Flags

Last week Grandma Betty came for a visit. She arrived Wednesday afternoon and departed Tuesday morning. We had fun hanging out at the house, going to the Heard, and going out to eat.

On Wednesday, I took Amy to Miss Debbie's, and Mary and I enjoyed a day at Six Flags. She had so much fun on all of the rides! Her favorite was the teacups. She really wanted to see Bugs Bunny, however, we couldn't find him in the park. When we did find someone who knew where he was, he wasn't going to be back for 30 minutes and it was time for us to leave.

Memory book of Pa-Pa for the girls

Click here to view this photo book larger

11 months old

Amy is now 11 months old. I can't believe that she will be 1 year old VERY soon! She is enjoying finger foods, drinking her bottle by herself, and crawling around. She is also saying some words, ma-ma, da-da, bye-bye, hi, uh-oh, and thank you (but is sounds like "tank ku"). She is getting really close to standing all by herself. She will also walk if you are holding her hands.


Earlier this week we enjoyed a McKinney Marshals game. We are looking forward to going to more this summer.


Mary has been enjoying playing in the sprinker in the backyard in the evenings.

Current Diagnosis

Dr. Cavalier just called with the results of today's bloodwork. Her iron levels are just below normal, 10.5 (11 is normal). All other counts were in the normal range. However when she looked at blood under a microscope she did find some abnormalities. Her current diagnosis is Spherocytosis. It is an auto-hemolytic anemia (a disease of the blood) characterized by the production of red blood cells, or erythrocytes, that are sphere-shaped, rather than bi-concave disk shaped (like a donut). It is caused by a molecular defect in one or more of the proteins of the red blood cell cytoskeleton, Because the cell skeleton has a defect, the blood cell contracts to its most surface-tension efficient and least flexible configuration, a sphere. The sphere-shaped red blood cells are known as spherocytes.

Though the spherocytes have a smaller surface area through which oxygen and carbon dioxide can be exchanged, they in themselves perform adequately to maintain healthy oxygen supplies. However, they have a high osmotic fragility--when placed into water, they are more likely to burst than normal red blood cells. These cells are more prone to physical degradation. They are most commonly found in immunologically-mediated hemolytic anemias and in hereditary spherocytosis, but the former would have a positive direct Coombs test and the latter would not. The misshapen but otherwise healthy red blood cells are mistaken by the spleen for old or damaged red blood cells and it thus constantly breaks them down, causing a cycle whereby the body destroys its own blood supply (auto-hemolysis).

The other blood work will take a couple of weeks and she will call with those results.

Amy's Dr Visit

Well, we just got back from Children's Medical Center. Our appt was at 8:30. We were seen right away (after I filled out a dozen pages). We first met with the Nurse Pracitioner. We went over my pregnancy and Amy's hospital stay with jaundice. Then we met with the hematologist, Dr. Cavalier. She asked the same questions and we discussed the same things. She said that we are not looking at anything "major". Amy could have some type of blood disorder, could be anemic, but we don't know why, her red blood cells could have an abnormal shape, or this could just be who she is and it is normal for her! They then drew a lot of blood. The lady who took it is just one month shy of doing this for 20 years! When she stuck Amy she didn't even cry!!! Amy even smiled and laughed while it was being drawn. She took 2 vials full. Dr. Cavalier will look at some of it under a microscope today to look for abnormal shapes. One of the tests will take a couple of weeks to get back the results. We have a follow up visit in a month, Thur, July 9 at 9:30. I'll post more when I have more info. Thanks for all of your sweet thoughts and prayers.

And for all of those who know my friend Adrienne or are following her blog...the TRIPLETS have arrived. However, they have 2 birth dates!!! The girl's bday is June 7 and the boys' are June 8!!!!!!!!!!!! CRAZY! All are doing well, and I'm hoping they'll have pictures posted soon!

Weekend wrap up

William worked both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday morning the girls just hung out and got ready to go to a baby shower. Mary was so excited. On the way there she said, "This shower is going to be so cold!" I couldn't help but laugh!!! In the evening we went out to eat to Posados. Sunday morning the girls went to church. Mary did her best. We are still trying to get her to sit still. I think if the pews had seatbelts she'd do a lot better! I'm getting things ready for Amy's appointment at Children's Medical in the morning. They will do blood work. We'll have to wait for the results and then meet with the hematologist. So we'll probably be there most, if not all, of the morning. Mary will be going with Hunter to the water park and a picnic. She is very excited! I will post an update as soon as I get home tomorrow.