Our princess

Birthday Fun!!

It's another year...another birthday!! Today we celebrated Katherine's 4th birthday, and gave thanks and praise to our Lord and Savior for the blessing that she is in our lives. She's a wonderful little girl. So full of energy, giggles, laughs, sayings and just perkiness. There are those moments when she doesn't have a smile on her face, but even those moments somehow make me smile looking back! We have had such a wonderful year. She was a great 3 year old, so smart and despite all the meds and chemo, she's been really in good health. We look forward to seeing her develop and grow as the beautiful little 4 year old we put to bed tonight. I have to tell you that she was a bit disappointed this morning when she woke up and realized she could NOT touch the ceiling. She told me she was sad, because she wasn't BIG. She really thought she would wake up on her birthday morning and have grown super tall--her imagination is beyond me. She LOVED, absolutely LOVED that today was ALL about her and celebrating HER birthday! She LOVED every single birthday wish call that she received, and every single birthday wish that was communicated to her via FB or email. Thank you all for your kindness and thoughtfulness to call her and make her day even more special.

So, we started our day mighty early. The kids had slept pretty well during our drive back from Houston yesterday and through the night, that they were early birds this morning. Both kids were up at 6am!! So much for US waking the birthday girl up singing Happy Birthday. Anyway, both Dan and I were TOO exhausted to get up at 6, so the kids went and watched TV for an hour or so. About 7am we finally came in with the traditional chocolate cupcake in hand, and four lit candles atop the muffin! She was ecstatic, and with a huge grin on her face waited patiently to blow out the candles! Joshua on the other hand, was ansy to help blow out the candles, but we managed to get him to sing with us before he help his big sister with the task.

I spent the morning birthday shopping for my princess, while a dear friend watched the kids. Upon my return home, I asked Katherine what she wanted for her birthday lunch. She promptly said, "mommy I want ham and cheese, soup and a bagel from Panera"...so...off we went. We had lunch at Panera, followed by an hour or so at the park, and then it was time for a birthday cookie from Merritz (for those that are not in tulsa, Merritz is a bakery where they have some really yummy treats). Then it was back home for some late naps. The kids were beat, and slept about 2 1/2 hours each before daddy came home from work. We finished our day with dinner at Chick fil A, another choice made by the birthday girl, and the unveiling of her gifts. It was so much fun to watch her little face light up and ask "mommy, can I open this one now?" I have TONS of photos, but I'll have to post some tomorrow. I'm beat and need to get some rest tonight.

Thanks again for remembering our little girl's bday and calling her today!! You truly made her day! At one point she even said "Everyone is calling to sing Happy Birthday at me!! :)"

Home Already

What a relief. Out of the hospital and able to enjoy a bit of the sunshine this afternoon. Katherine seems to be feeling well, and we're happy to be home. Marleny had a photo shoot this afternoon- so she was relieved that we were going to be let out so quickly.

The weather is so amazing here, I was able to get out for a quick run while the sitter was still here with Joshua. Katherine enjoyed getting to play with Kinsey- one of her sitters from church.

Thanks for all of your prayers. Hoping you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

The Marshes.

Hospital Update

We just spoke with the Oncologist on call, and Kateli's counts are good and the Flu-test was negative. Her fever is gone, so it looks like we may be able to actually get out of here TODAY. That would be the fastest hospital trip yet!

Katherine and Joshua are currenty enjoying grape popsicles and living it up on this beautiful Sunday morning.

Please continue to pray that the remainder of the tests return negative, and that we actually get out of here today.

Thanks!

Busy weekend, and now we're in the hospital

Yep, we had quite the weekend...all fun, but we've picked up a bug and that's put Katherine back in the hospital this morning.

Friday evening we attended Katherine's second dance recital to date, and by far the best experience for her and for us. Despite the fact that I wasn't on top of my game and didn't realize they were doing a tap number to Frosty the Snowman, our little princess performed with her heart into the dance. It was amazing to watch her. She didn't mind at all that she, and 2 others, were wearing ballet shoes, rather than tap shoes, she tapped her little heart out and enjoyed every minute of it. I decided not to take my still camera, but rather my video camera because I had a feeling that would capture better...and I was right, except it's really hard to upload the video clip onto here. So, just close your eyes and imagine her dancing, tapping, to Frosty with a HUGE grin on her face, and following very closely the teacher's cues!! She got off the stage and the first thing she said to me was "when do we go again, mommy?" After the recital we headed to dinner with a few of our friends, and after dinner we had to stick around to watch the end of the recital performances, at Katherine's request. Joshua was NOT far behind in enjoying the recital, and the music mostly. As we sat there watching the last few groups dance their piece, our little guy was grooving and dancing along to the beat of the music. He'd stand next to us and boogey, then move up one row and dance next to an older lady, whom he didn't mind kept turning towards him and smiling! It was fun! The kids were exhausted and slept like babies!

However, the next morning, yesterday, Katherine woke up complaining of a very sore throat!! OH OH!! Yep, then she started with a runny nose, but seemed in good spirits. In fact, she and I went window shopping at antique stores, while daddy and Joshua worked on a house project upstairs. By naptime, she was asking for a nap (a rare occurrence), and unsuccessfully attempted to sleep for about an hour and a half. She was so stuffy, that breathing while laying down was nearly impossible. As naptime progressed, she got warmer and warmer and when I took her temp she was about 101.5. We reluctantly...yes, RELUCTANTLY, called the doctor, fearing that we would immediately be sent to the hospital, but were pleasantly surprised that we were not. Instead given the symptoms, the dr calmly instructed us to push fluids on her, give her one dose of tylenol, and wait and see if the fever subsided. However, if the fever didn't subside, spiked back up later in the night, or she started to vomit and not keep any food down, then we had to immediately call back. So we did just that...and prayed, of course we prayed. She got her tylenol, her fever subsided, her spirits and energy were back up until 3 hours after falling asleep. She and Joshua both woke up screaming about 1am. Turns out Katherine had woken up with another very sore throat, was screaming and startled Joshua awake--he was crying because he didn't know what was going on, and was a bit scared. So, we both spent about 1.5 hours upstairs, calmed the kids down and Joshua fell back asleep. Katherine was also running a temp, she was at 102 so we had to call the dr. She and Dan went into the hospital about 2:30am this morning. The dr said she was pretty sure it was viral, but we needed to take her in to do the normal routine of covering her with antibiotics, run cultures, and tests to make sure there was no bacterial infection and the like. I'm not sure if they were going to test for the flu, but both kids have been vaccinated for the seasonal and H1N1 luckily.

My prayer requests:
1.Please pray that it's just a mild cold, and doesn't progress to anything more serious.
2 Pray for her body to be strong, and her marrow to kick out those infection fighting cells, so that she can recover fast.
3. Pray for a fast return home from the hospital for full recovery.
4. Pray that despite being in the hospital we can celebrated Daddy's 37th birthday just the four of us. Today is daddy's birthday, and we're getting him a cake and gifts and moving our family party to the hospital.
5. Last year we were in the hospital for Thanksgiving; please pray that we are not there this year for the holiday.

Thank you again for keeping up with us!

Longer locks

Sorry for the lack of updates!! Kateli is doing great, she is growing and looking more beautiful each day. I wanted to share that her hair is growing so nicely, and the envy of lots that meet her. In fact I was in dance class with her the other day, and after Katherine walked into her class, the dad said to me, "her hair is so cute, I love it!" She has got the most fun hair. It's dirty blond, and has a bit of curl to it. It's easy to style, just wet it a little bit and set it in place. However, it's also easy to look like she just got out of bed :). She has been so excited the last two days, because Tuesday was the first day that I was able to pull her hair back into a ponytail!! She's been wanting one for the longest time, but her hair was just not long enough. It still needs go grow out a little, but we pulled it back, and used little clips all around (I think six total) to hold back the baby hairs that kept pulling out!! She looks absolutely adorable and so grown up. Her little face is so angelic, and her smile lights up an entire room--okay not literally, but does light those huge smiles of her light up my world!! I have a pic of her somewhere, I'll post it later, so you can see just how big our little girl is getting. She's gonna be 4 at the end of the month, and boy is she excited that we are in "nomember" As soon as we hit this month, she started asking "Is my birthday today?" so, what did we do?? We made a chain link to count down. We cut a link each day--of course we made one for daddy too, so that Joshua could cut links each day as well. Praise the Lord for being so faithful, and wonderful. He's given us trials for sure, but he's given us a huge blessing with such a wonderful, strong, and determined little girl who we are watching grow up before our eyes. We continue to pray that both she, Joshua and this baby will grow up to be the people of God that HE has made them to be.

Napping in our own beds...

WOOOHOOO!!! What a praise!! We are back home and Kateli is elated to be in her own bed napping this afternoon. While in the hospital she refused to sit on the bed, saying that "she didn't like that bed" so you can imagine how happy she is to be home. Of course we are happy to be home too!! She's fever free, but she still has a horrible cough--I'm sure it sounds worse than it is. Her runny nose is better than it was yesterday so we are praying she is on the mend. Please don't stop praying though, especially for wisdom for Dan and I, that we would ask the right questions and seek the right advise.

Your prayers requested...

We are well into the year, it's hard to believe that we're already in September. As the fall season sneaks up on us this year, I wanted to request your prayers for our family. Please pray that we all stay healthy through the season with nothing more than maybe runny noses, but nothing major. As it is, Kateli is in the hospital tonight because she's caught some bug, and has had a runny nose, a phlegmy cough and fevers above 101.5. The fevers started yesterday afternoon, and Dan and she headed out to their little resort stay about 3am. I was with her all day today, and she was fever free, so she maybe home again tomorrow. The good thing about being in the hospital, if there could be a good thing, is that they keep her well hydrated, and they have tested her to see if she's got the flu virus, or RSV. The test came back negative, so that's good, but she's fighting a bug. However, her lungs sound clear, so the doc says it's upper respiratory. Nonetheless, her numbers are super high with is a praise!! So, please pray for her more immediate healing of this bug, and for any subsequent illnesses we maybe exposed to this season. Both kids have had their flu shots, and we are waiting for the H1N1 shot which is more specific for the swine flu. Dan and I are pending getting our flu shots this season but it's on our list to do. Sorry if this post was more rambling than anything else....I'm really tired, and almost 5 months pregnant! :)

Thanks again for keeping up with our family and especially our little princess. We really appreciate your prayers and your coming back often to check our blog.

Random Fevers

So, this morning we woke up to random fevers at home, well, specifically with Katherine. She was running 101.3 under her arm. Last night, we went to bed and she was measuring 100.4. She ran 100.4 consistently through the night until this morning. Needless to say a call to the clinic was in order, and the nurse asked me to bring her in. The protocol is to have her come into the clinic, check counts, give her an antibiotic, and have her see a doctor. If her numbers were fine, and she showed no signs of infection we would be released. Well, after being there nearly 2 hours this morning, we were released to go home. Her numbers were high, she was at 3300 this morning, and she looks just fine. Where the fevers are coming from? who knows. The doctor that looked at her, said she looked great. Her ears were clear, her tummy felt soft as it should, and her throat was free from redness. So, we have to watch her for the next few days, but the antibiotic covers her for 24hours. So, if she runs a fever in the next 24 hrs, we are free to administer tylenol, but if she runs a fever after 24hours, well...that means another visit to the clinic. Please pray that she stays fever free, and that it was just a random case of them that has come, and gone now! Above is my princess...yesterday while I was working she came into the room and asked what I was doing and wanted to snuggle the baby. So, I took the oppty to ask if she would let me take a photo of her, and she agreed...anyway, when I get those moments I have to take advantage. So here is the image of her from yesterday afternoon. I know I have mommy goggle on, but to me she looks absolutely beautiful, and so grown up.

Which wish will she be granted?

A few months ago, the social worker at the Oncology clinic approached me and talked to me about the Make-a-Wish Foundation. I was always under the impression that this organization granted wishes for children that were terminally ill, but Jana (social worker) explained to me that that's not entirely true. While they do grant wishes to terminally ill patients, they strive to make wishes come true for children that have been diagnosed with a life threatening illness, such as ALL. So, she asked if we, as parents, would be okay with them submitting a referral for Katherine. We accepted, and her name/case was submitted. A few weeks later, I was contacted by the make a wish foundation to get a little bit of information from me as well as to get a little info on Katherine, i.e. her favorite color, her favorite book, what she likes to do, if she has any siblings, etc etc. A couple of months after this initial call I was contacted by the volunteers that had been assigned our case. It took a while to get a meeting lined up, mainly because I kept forgetting to call them back, or we just played phone tag--but we were finally able to set a meeting up for this past Friday. We met with the ladies, Sherri and Leah, who were super nice and very amicable with Katherine, Joshua and with us. Dan and I had been hyping up the meeting to Katherine, so that she didn't retreat into her shy-side, as she does when she meets strangers, and we had been probing her for ideas of what would be the wish that she requested be granted. Needless to say she was excited that she was going to get a wish, and a few times this week she would tell Joshua, "Joshua, I'm going to get a wish, because I'm super special..." She also asked us/me, once or twice, if Joshua would also get a wish. That was a hard question, that made me a bit teary eyes, and my response to her was "no, baby. He is not going to get a wish", when on the inside my heart was hurting and I thought, "no baby, we hope he never has to have a wish granted through the make-a-wish foundation".

We arrived at Braum's, where we agreed to meet, and Katherine was asking "were are Sherri and Leah...??" When we met them, she got a bit shy but quickly came out of that when she got a bag of goodies that the ladies had brought to her, filled with stickers, coloring books, and crayons. Joshua also lit up to see that they had brought him a little gift as well, and what better than another car for my little man. THe meeting went smoothly, Dan and I had to fill out some forms, and sign some papers before we got to the meat of the meeting. Leah turned to Katherine and asked "Katherine, if you were to wish for something, what would it be?" Katherine got a little quiet, and retreated into my arms, but with a little bit of encouragement, I got her to open up and tell them her wish. She looked at Leah, with a huge grin across her face and said "I wish to see Shamu, and Nemo and swim with the dolphins"...it's a loaded wish, huh?? This all came from her though, we didn't coach her or tell her what to say, this is what she wants. Leah and Sherri took notes, and then asked for a second/back up wish...to which we helped respond to since Katherine was stuck on her first wish. You remember that we were recently in the hospital, and that one of those times we came back from the lake to take her in. Well, our plan at the lake that afternoon was to ride in a pontoon boat, and she's been asking when we are going to go out and ride on the boat...so as her second wish, we said "she'd like to ride in a boat"...of course I had to interject more specific, "a big boat, maybe even a cruise"...I know, wishful thinking, but they did ask for a WISH right?? well, we will see which wish will be granted and when. Stay tuned...