It is hard for me to believe that I have let nearly 2 weeks go by without updating. My last update was on Wednesday, December 17th. December 18th hit and it has been a blur ever since. December 18th was our appointment to the nephrologist for Elizabeth and Ri's ultrasounds. We met with him and all agreed that Ri did not need an ultrasound done. The doctor had not planned on doing one for Elizabeth, but after talking with us, I think he decided it would ease our mind to actually run an US just to make sure nothing was there. We scheduled that for Monday, December 22. And.. as the doctor anticipated (and I had pretty much been at peace about), there were no evidence of any kind of damage to her kidneys. So... we praise God that despite the fact she had been on the formula that recently was tested with an astronomical amount of melamine.... she was not effected by it (or it had not been in her formula at the time). The anemia is a direct result of the genetic blood disorder that we discovered a few weeks ago called Thalessemia. The stage 1 hypertension that she seems to record may or may not be real. It certainly can be a direct result of something called "White Coat Syndrome"; meaning that her blood pressure rises just because someone is doing something to her (taking her blood pressure).

That evening (at 11:30 at night), my sister-in-law and neice and nephew flew into town. Oh how wonderful it was to see their faces. It has been a year and a half since I have seen them. I was so looking forward to their visit, despite how short it was going to be. My brother flew in the next day. Friday night, Emily woke me up with the stomach flu. It was quite violent. Three hours after she woke me up, Jacob joined us with the same flu. We were up the entire night, alternating between the 2 kids. It was a very, very long night. Emily had been hit harder then I remeber her ever having the stomach stuff! That meant that all Saturday, she was quarantined from her cousins. She was devastated. Her Uncle was only in town Friday night and Saturday. He left at 5:30 am Sunday morning. She had looked so forward to spending time with him. We tried to recover some from the lack of sleep. Sunday night Sam ended up with the same violent night Emily had had. So, we canceled Monday's appt. My sister-in-law took the older kids (minus Sam) to Columbus shopping and to movies. I stayed home with Sam. Monday night, Erin and Mark got it. My Brother got hit a few hours after he landed in Florda. My sister-in-law and neice and nephew left Tuesday. Faith got it that night and Eli got it the next night. Ri ended up with it Christmas night. Elizabeth and I were spared. Ri, Elizabeth and I all had the flu shot. I am praising God for that! I was in the thick of the virus for a week straight!!!!

So... with many nights of little sleep, I just haven't had the energy to update! Keep checking back.. I will post more in a little bit. I have kids calling me.