You obviously don't know Ryan

Yesterday morning we left the house at about 9:00 am to make the 20-30 minutes trip up to Ohio to visit the ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Charles Myer. Once we got to Children's, Ryan had a feeling something bad was going to happen. Don't you hate that?? These kids just see a hospital or doctor's office and know something is up and they know they don't like it. We walked over to the C building and got on the elevator and went to the 2nd floor. Cardiology is on the 4th floor so it was a nice break to hit the "2" button on the elevator wall. Ryan was being very friendly to everyone on the elevator, as usual. She said Hi to everyone and then talked about the doctor that was going to "get my ears." HAHA. She hears what she wants to hear, because I told her the doctor was just going to look in them....not get them. :)

Once we got to Otalaryngology, the wait wasn't that bad but Ryan got nervous when her name was called. The nurse said she would give Ryan a sticker if she walked back like a big girl....so Ryan started running really fast to get to them. Once in the back, the nurse asked me several questions about Ryan....you know, the normal routine things. Dr. Myer came in and said he needed to LOOK in Ryan's ears. He also asked me a few questions, and then came the time to hold her down. She FLIPS OUT anytime anybody tries to look in her ears so I knew it was coming. I sat in the chair with Ryan in my lap facing away from me. I had to literally wrap my legs around hers, and then bear hug her from behind to hold her arms down. Dr. Myer held her head to look in her ears, and with all of that, Ryan still wiggled free!!! She's SO STRONG!!! It really amazes me how physically strong she is. Once we were done with wrestling the beast, the doctor told me what the deal is with Ry.

showing her HUGE muscles!!

Dr. Myer filled me in that Ryan's ears are both severly infected. His exact words to me were "after 35 days of 4 different medications, I cannot believe how bad her ears look." GREAT.....so what can we do about it?!?!?! When she had her last infection like this back in May, he said all of the fluid probably didn't clear up completely. Meaning, she has most likely had a minor infection in both ears for almost a year. He said he's surprised she can hear anything that anybody tells her. OH NO!!! At this point, I was highly concerned about the future of her hearing. Dr. Myer assured me that he feels very strongly that she will have no long term damage to her hearing. We will not know for sure until she gets another hearing test, which will not be until after her tubes are placed, and then fall out, which can be around 6-12 months. Ryan's peds office typically refer's patients that need tubes to the Head and Neck Associates in Ky, but with Ryan's heart issues, I always feel more comfortable if she is seen at the hospital because they have her records and know everything going on with her. Dr. Myer told me I made the best decision with that, because the Head and Neck Associates wouldn't have touched her due to her "cardiac status." POINT FOR MOMMY!!! haha. I know that when she is at the hospital, she is in good hands. I really do trust all of their staff. They are all amazing people.

Surgery info is as follows. Ryan is scheduled for the surgery this Friday at 4:30 pm. We have to arrive at CCHMC at 3:00 pm. I'm sure most of you know the food/drink regulations that go with anesthesia. NOTHING to eat or drink AT ALL for 4 hours prior to surgery, and for the 4 hours before that, ONLY clear liquids. She can have jell-o, applesauce and popsicles. Those are the only semi-solid foods. I didn't really have a choice as far as surgery date and time. It was either take the appointment this Friday at 4:30 or wait a month....which the doctor STRONGLY advised NOT to do. The nurses and Dr. Myer both assured me that Ryan would be fine, just let her eat as much of those things as she wants so she gets nice and full since she will have to go 4 hours without anything. Really?? You think she'll be fine?? YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T KNOW RYAN!!! :) Ryan is the queen of eating. SERIOUSLY. She really doesn't eat near as much as she used to, but for her to not eat or drink for 4 hours is going to be TERRIBLE. I'm hoping I can get her to take a nice long nap so at least we will have some time where she won't care about her throat being dry or tummy being empty. UGH!!! The procedure itself, only takes about 15-20 minutes. Before they make the incisions in her ear drums, they are going to vacuum out the infected fluid that has been taking up residence in Ryan's ears for so long. Once that is done, surgery will begin. After she wakes up, we will remain at the hospital for about another hour or so. When Ryan was given the "gas" for her cardiac cath, she had a hard time waking up from the anesthesia and they said it will probably be the same this time around. She is not given the "gas" for her echo's, that is something different. Her discharge time from the hospital really depends on how well she wakes up. We will be there until at least 6 pm. It's going to be a L-O-N-G day!!

UPDATE: I just received 2 calls within 20 minutes of eachother from the hospital. Both to tell me that there have been cancellations on the surgery schedule. Ryan's surgery has now been pushed up to 11:45 am!!!! This is amazing news. Now, she will not have to wait as long to eat or drink which is great for all of us. Maybe they will call me tomorrow to make it even earlier!! HA.

Such a beautiful princess!!! (don't mind the messy hair :)

I have an idea that I would like everyone to do. We always are telling the stories of our kids being at the hospital, so I'm curious to know what your child's hospital looks like. I was not able to find an actual photo of the entire hospital online that we have here, but I found sort of a blue print photo. I will try to remember to take a picture Friday. The picture below is an overview of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (CCHMC) or as us "locals" say....."Children's Hospital."

Our hospital is divided into concourses. Sort of like an airport. The main concourses where the different divisions are, are labeled as A, B, C, and D. Ryan's consultation yesterday was on C2 (concourse C, 2nd floor.) Her surgery will be on B3. Cardiology clinic is on C4 but her cardiac cath was done on A4. It can be a bit confusing, but once your there all the time like us, you get it down pretty quick. On your next update, include a picture of your hospital. I'm interested in seeing how different they look since we all live in such different areas. Next time, I will also try to include some pics of our town. Do the same, that way we can see the area where eachother lives.

Please say prayers for Ryan's surgery on Friday. Although it's nothing major, it is always a concern when she is sedated, especially with gas. Also, continue to pray for Logan Jacks and Derrick Carter. Thanks for all the support!!!

Logan's page: www.whenlifehandsyouabrokenheart.blogspot.com

Derrick's page: www.carolinacarters.blogspot.com

This is getting ridiculous...

I'm sure many of you are probably wondering what it is that I feel is so RIDICULOUS. I promise I will get to that but first, prayers are needed.

Logan Jack's received another open heart surgery on Thursday and is still recovering in the hospital. The doctors see now that he has an effusion (thanks to his parents paying close attention to Logan's symptoms!! GREAT JOB STEF AND RYAN!!!) This may extend Logan's hospital stay to an extra 3-4 days. Please pray that he gets better and also say some prayers that his big brother Wyatt is doing well in school despite the constant worries of his little brother. They have a special bond with eachother so I'm sure he's very concerned. My thoughts and prayers are with you Stef, Ryan, Wyatt and Logan....get better soon!!! If you would like to stop by Logan's blog page to give them some words of encouragement, or just to let them know you're thinking about them, the site is www.whenlifehandsyouabrokenheart.blogspot.com


Derrick Carter is also having surgery, but his is today. Derrick is a very special little guy and he's ADORABLE as well!!! We are sending our thoughts and prayers to you all as well and hoping that D's surgery is a success and that he recovers quickly!! To visit Derrick's page, please go to www.carolinacarters.blogspot.com and leave them a message. Good Luck baby D and we are thinking about you today!!!

So, onto this ridiculousness I was speaking off earlier......Ryan is sick AGAIN!!! I'm so irritated about this whole situation I feel like ripping my hair out. She was on 4 different meds for a grand total of 35 days. Once on each med for about 3 days, she seemed great. No more cough or runny nose or anything. Her last medication ended just 2 days ago, and last night, the runny nose started. She woke up this morning with the runny nose continuing and she is having trouble breathing. I am not going to bother taking her back to the peds office just yet because she is scheduled with the ear, nose and throat specialist tomorrow morning up at the hospital. I am hoping and praying that he will schedule her to have tubes put in her ears so I can stop having to take her to the peds and we can keep her off the antibiotics. This is her 2nd ear infection since May but both of them lasted a month or more. The last one caused her to be on meds for 30 days, and this one, 35 days. I hope the doctor makes the right decision. I will keep everyone posted as to if/when Ryan will be scheduled for surgery. Thanks for the support!!! It's time to watch "Happy Feet" again, so I gotta run!!! :)

The missing pictures!!!

I'm excited to say that my brother is here visiting!!!  He flew home from Pheonix on Friday and is staying until Thursday.  He is leaving for basic training for the Army on February 1st so its great to spend time with him before he goes.  I'm on his laptop now in order to load a few pics from Ryan's birthday and from Christmas so everyone can see the fun.  My brothers name is Robert but goes by Bob and Ryan calls him Uncle SpongeBob.  HAHA.  So, thanks to Uncle SpongeBob, we get to share pictures.  I will try to update again asap but not sure when that will be.  Just real quick though, Ryan is now on her 4th antibiotic so once she's done with it on the 16th, that will total 35 days of meds for her ear infections.  POOR GIRL!!!  I will try to update before her appointment at the hospital with the ear, nose, and throat doc but don't know if I will be able to.   So, here are the pics....ENJOY!!

My dad, Joe, my brother, me and Ryan

Happy Birthday Ryan!!!

first time sledding...with daddy.

wee.....

loving the snow

cheeeese!!!!

new hoodie for Christmas.

wow.....a Dora kareoke machine!!  Thanks Grandpa!!!

feeding her baby in the baby's new high chair!!  Santa sure knows what to do!!!

look at all this stuff

Bubba and Sissy

listening to her baby's heart...so precious but sad that she knew just what to do.

opening more presents.

Dora and Boots cupcakes!! 

getting ready to blow out the candle.....so much fun!!

cutest thing ever.....this dog says her name and all the things she likes!!!

sorry the pics are so scattered as far as their order.  I am trying to get this done to spend more time with my brother!!!  Hope you liked them!!  There was, of course many more photos taken, but it would have taken DAYS to put them all on here.  Until next time....I hope all of our followers are doing well.....and I promise I will get caught up soon with everyone else's blogs...I KNOW I'M A SLACKER!!!!  SORRY!!!

Celebrations and a major tragedy

Ok so I admit....it's been WAY TO LONG!! Our computer bit the BIG one and wasn't working. I am on it now, but am not able to get my pics on it. So, unfortunately I am not able to share any of Ryan's birthday photos, or pics from Christmas. I hope everyone had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!!!

Ryan's birthday parties went great! Her favorite gift BY FAR is the Dora the Explorer backpack she received from my aunt, as well as the tea set she got from my dad (her pee-paw as she calls him.) She says that the tea cups are for FOFFEE (coffee) She is too funny. She also got a lot of clothes which were very much needed. A week before Ryan's party I had taken her to the doctor and she was diagnosed with a left ear infection and that's when she was put on Augmentin for 10 days. On the 14th, I took her back for her 2 year check up. A resident came in to do the exam and said her ear looked better. Once her meds were done, she got worse. She had a nasty cough and her nose wouldn't stop running. I took her back again and the doctor looked in her left ear and told me the resident was wrong. It was worse. Ryan was then put on Omnicef for 10 days. The ped was SURE it would take care of it this time. This past Wednesday, we were back AGAIN!!! They had told me to bring her back on January 21st to see if the infection was gone from the second meds. I'm glad I followed my intuition and didn't wait. When a different ped looked in her ears on Wed. she noticed that now BOTH ears were filled with a bunch of yucky fluid. I knew something was up because her cough and runny nose just wouldn't get better. So, after 20 days of 2 different medications, her ears were worse. This same thing happened to her back in May, where she was on 3 different meds and it finally went away. Therefore, the peds sent a referral up to the hospital. Ryan now has an appointment there on January 19th to see Dr. Myer who is an ear, nose, and throat specialist. I was really looking forward to not being back at the hospital until June, but that's just not going to happen.

Before I get to the tragedy that took place here, I will just quickly say that Christmas and New Year were great for us. We loved spending time with our family and feel so blessed to have them in our lives. Especially after what occurred just before Christmas.

When Josh played baseball last year, he played for a team called "Hustle." His assistant coach's name was Tony Campbell. He had been Josh's assistant coach for 3 years and his step son Devin played for the same team. Tony's wife, Emily, and myself were pregnant at the same time. She gave birth to their son, Ryker, on December 1, 2007. On Sunday, the 13th (Ryan's birthday) Ryker had a party for his birthday as well. The only thing missing, was his dad, Tony. Tony was deployed to Afghanistan in September while serving in the Armed Forces. On Monday, the 14th, Tony called home to speak to his family, and Ryker surprised him by counting to 10 on the phone, and he then said "I love you Daddy." Emily, Devin, Ryker and Jordan (Tony's 7 year old daughter by a previous marriage) had no idea that would be the last time they would talk to him. Sadly, early Tuesday morning, December 15th, Tony was killed while serving our country. His job overseas was to disarm roadside bombs. There was one that detonated and he was nearby. He was only 35 years old. On Tuesday, December 22nd, Tony was laid to rest in Williamstown, Ky at the veterans cemetary. He was also a Cincinnati Police Officer which was his dream job that he had fulfilled just last year. Even though you may not know them, please just say a prayer for his entire family. They are all wonderful people. Emily will now be raising the 3 kids without her best friend and Husband. Although she has many close friends and family and we are doing everything we can to help, it is nothing like having your life partner there with you. Tony will surely be missed and he was a very brave man. Once again, I remind you....never take anything for granted. Life is too short to sweat the small stuff. Live your life to it's fullest. It was amazing to see the amount of people that showed up to the funeral to show their support. Service men and woman lined the church to pay their respects, along with police officer's from all over. It was amazing to see and nobody deserved it more. He fought hard for this country and after his death, Emily received Tony's awards of The purple heart, a combat star and a medal of honor.

Please take a moment to remember all of our fallen soldiers, and those who are still fighting for us all.

One of the newest soldiers to join the U.S. Army is my brother. He is beginning his basic training on February 2nd at Ft. Benning in GA. He is flying home to see us (from Arizona) this Friday. I cannot wait to see him!! He has not seen Ryan in person Since August of 2008. I will try to post again soon and have pictures of everything going on lately. ENJOY YOUR WEEK!!

2 years ago.....Sunday???

So, as most of you already know, my little princess will be 2 years old on Sunday. We have so much going on between now and then that I decided I will give my birthday tribute to Ryan now....what's a few days going to hurt?? We are having 2 birthday parties this weekend for Ryan to split up the amount of people. I know it sounds crazy but I'd rather do that then try to fit everyone in my house at one time. That would equal out to be almost 60 people. Last year for her first birthday, we had 65 people but we had rented out a clubhouse to the condo that my uncle owns. That was a lifesaver.

Ryan's medicine is doing it's just it seems because she is looking much better. Her 2 year well check up is Monday so we will see if the left ear infection is clearing up. The skin infection looks much better and with the help of our good friend Mr. Neosporin, the scab on her nose is almost gone now!! Her nose is also not running as bad as before. YAY for Ryan!!

So, here we go!!!

On December 11, 2007 I went to my last doctor's appointment as a pregnant woman. My due date was actually on the 10th but those are never accurate anyways. :) I had received a second ultra sound 2 weeks prior to get an estimated fetal weight because I had gained 65 lbs. They knew I had a big baby in there and needed to get an idea of what they were working with. At that appointment, the doctor told me that I was getting induced and told me to check myself into the hospital that evening at 6 pm. I was also informed that I should eat a really good meal before hand because once in labor, all bets were off. And, most of you know that you DO NOT tell a woman that is 9 months pregnant that she cannot eat!! That's just wrong on so many levels. haha. My mom treated Jay and I to Olive Garden that night and when we left, we went straight to the hospital. I was so nervous and anxious and just couldn't wait to meet my sweet little girl. I was just dying inside to see what she looked like!! When we got to the hospital, we settled in and just waited...and waited.....and waited.

At 8 am the next morning, December 12th, I was started on the I.V. drip to induce my labor. At 9 am I was considered to be in active labor. I remember thinking "wow...that was FAST!!!" My contractions were very strong and I was in a lot of pain, but I wasn't dialating. At noon, the doctor's broke my water for me to see if I would progress any. I received my epidural around 6pm and then we waited some more. I didn't know what was taking so long but I didn't like it. I was so miserable. Finally, at 1:00 am...yes....the NEXT morning, I had just hit 9 cm. The doctor told me since Ryan had been without fluid and that she hadn't dropped at all that the best bet at that point was to deliver her via c-section. Woo Hoo....let's just get this over with!!! I was disappointed that I wasn't actually going to "give birth" but at the same time, I just wanted to see her. I agreed to surgery and within 5 minutes, nurses and doctors were coming in to prep me. I went back to the operating room and got strapped to the table. (which by the way is a very scary feeling knowing that you cannot move because of the meds, and then having your arms strapped down also) The surgery started and I didn't even know it....I didnt feel a thing. But I guess that's the point right?? lol. At 2:14 am, I heard the cries. The most amazing sound I've ever heard in my entire life. The nurses took Ryan over to the table to get her wiped off and make sure she was ok, then told Jay to get her and bring her over for me to see. We both had tears of joy streaming down our faces. When I looked at her for the first time, I knew what true love was. She was BIG, and beautiful, and PERFECT!!!!

TO RYAN:

You are my everything, my whole life, and my precious gift. You will never in your life know just how very much you mean to me. You have made me so much more than I ever thought I could be and for you, I am forever grateful. You have brought a light to my life that I never knew could exist. Every day with you is truly a blessing and I couldn't ask for anything better. I cannot believe you are (almost) 2 years old. Time goes by way to quickly. I look forward to times when you are older, like your first day of school, your first sport that you try, and your first school dance. I cannot wait to share those special times with you and help guide you along your journey through life. You were born with a VERY special heart, and sometimes things that you will go through may not always seem fair, but GOD made you this way because He knew just how strong you would be. You have endured A LOT in your 2 years of life and will continue to go through many more things. Just know that I am ALWAYS here, holding your hand along the way. You are the BEST gift I have ever received and I thank GOD every single day for bringing you to me. Please know just how much I love you and care about you.....you are my everything princess!!!!

*wiping tears away* WOW....this is harder than I thought. I actually just took a 15 minute break in between these 2 paragraphs. I have added some pictures for all to see of Ryan when she was born, and a couple when she was just a few months old. I cannot believe how big she's gotten and how smart she is!! She really amazes me EVERY day!!!

Ryan Sue Sweeney 8lbs. 7oz. 20 inches long

sleeping beauty.....so precious

born on December 13, the 12 days of Christmas baby!!

just over a month old


almost 4 months


Oh how things change. I remember how much she loved that excersaucer. That was the best thing in the world to her!!! Now, she gets really happy when I paint her nails....haha. She is the love of my life and I am so blessed to have her.


I will update again sometime next week with pictures from the birthday bashes!!! I hope everyone enjoys the rest of their week and has a GREAT weekend!!!

It just keeps on coming.....

Geez....sorry it's taken me a while to get back to the posting. Been pretty busy around here. Let's get down to it....Ryan's appointment went GREAT!!! We got to CCHMC on Friday morning hoping for the best and that is what we got. Ryan's gradient was 39 and is now 40 which is worse but not by much. AWESOME!! We have been told that as soon as the gradient gets up to 50, Dr. Hor (cardiologist) will be speaking to Dr. Hirsch (cath doc) about setting Ryan up for another Cardiac Cath with balloon. Last year, we found out just a week before her birthday that she would be getting this procedure in January, so her birthday and the Holiday's weren't that great. I didn't feel there was much to celebrate with everything happening to Ryan. This year, however, things will be totally different. We now have a lot to celebrate. This year, we will not have surgery on our minds.

Ryan's sats during her sedated echo

during the echo...sorry it's fuzzy, this pic was taken on my cell phone

After Ryan's echo, I swung by the gift shop to exchange a bracelet that I had bought for a necklace just like it. It's called the "always in my heart" jewelry....you can buy a bracelet, necklace or keychain and then you buy little charms to put inside of it. VERY CUTE.

you cannot tell what's in it, but I have 5 charms. A heart that says "hope" in it, a circle with a princess crown that says "mommy's princess," a red heart that says "daughter," a little girl with a dress on that has Ryan's birthstone in it, and a charm in the shape of the letter "R."

The ride home from the hospital didn't go too well because the nembutal that Ryan was on is the DEVIL!!! I cannot stand that med because of what it does to her the rest of the day. She was SO CRANKY. Once we got home though, she fell asleep. Dr. Hor called me to tell me that for the first time ever.....Ryan doesn't have to come back for 6 WHOLE MONTHS!!! That is amazing news. Ryan was down for the count for her nap so I started on getting some things done around the house, and that's when I heard the THUMP!!!

The thump was Ryan falling out of her bed. EEEEKKS......since she was still heavily medicated, she was unable to walk. Well, since I wasn't in her room I do not know exactly what happened but when I ran in her room, she had a pretty decent amount of blood on her face. Jay grabbed a washcloth and got it wet and we wiped her off. All of the blood was coming from the rug burn on her nose and not from the inside of either that or her mouth which was a relief. Poor girl....I can only imagine how bad it hurt. That wasn't the end of it though....it just kept coming.

Ryan was sitting on the living room floor and I went to the kitchen to grab her a little snack. I was getting some animal crackers ready in a bag for her to eat, when she suddenly jumped up and darted for the kitchen. We couldn't catch her quick enough and since she was so wobbly, she fell....HARD. When she slipped on the kitchen floor, somehow her left ear hit right on the corner of the wooden baseboard. So, the top of her ear is swollen and bruised. She's been through it!!!! It doesn't stop there...........it just kept coming.

As the day progressed on Friday, Ryan's nose began to run, and run, and run some more. I was hoping it was nothing more than a case of the sniffles, but I was wrong. Friday night was HARD on her because she wasn't feeling well. She woke up at 2 am and didn't go back to sleep until 5:30 am. When she got back up yesterday morning at about 8:30, she was S-I-C-K!! Fever was 100 but the amount of mucus coming from her nose was HORRIBLE!!! She couldn't breathe out of her nose AT ALL. I waited until 1 pm when the peds office opened and called to get her in, but they couldn't get her in until today at 1:20pm. We were ON IT.

We got to the doc today thinking they would just give her an antibiotic for the sinus infection and we would be on our way. Well, she got the prescription for augmentin, however, it's for her sinus infection, left ear infection, and skin infection. The skin infection happened because the scab on her nose came open, and her yuckiness leaking out of her nose, went in it. UGH. It doesn't look that bad though. I'm sure you all probably have this mental image of this disgusting looking infection on her upper lip but that's not the case. It's just a large scab that's red. Ryan will be on the meds twice a day for 10 days. We are still having her birthday party next weekend though because once on the meds for a few days, she will no longer be contagious.

St. Nick came last night to visit Ryan and she just LOVED everything he had to give her. Here are several pics!!!

digging into her stocking

wow....a GIANT pen.

scribbling on her new Disney Princess paper with her new GIANT pen

more nail polish...she loves having her nails painted.

her favorite....the "Dora the Explorer" bubble bath!!! (see the scabbed nose? :(

We have so many reasons to celebrate this year and I am so thrilled at how Ryan's appointment went, but I'm not forgetting the other families that are not so fortunate this year. My heart goes out to you all. Rather it's that an appointment didn't go well for your child, your child is in the hospital, or your child earned their wings way to early in life....my thoughts and prayers are with you all!!! ALWAYS!!!!!

this is now in our yard. the snowman moves up and down!!! TOO CUTE!!!

I am really looking forward to Ryan's birthday next weekend. I don't like the fact that she is one year older, but I love all the new things she is learning and seeing how much she changes on almost a daily basis. She talks better everyday and is just so amazing. Oh, and just an FYI, she weighs 31 lbs. and is 34 inches tall. ALMOST 3 FEET!! haha.

I may not get around to updating again this week but will post a birthday update next weekend for sure!!! I hope everybody had a great weekend and that you enjoy the week ahead!!

It was a Happy Thanksgiving...now we need prayers!!

Oh what a Holiday!! We had a lot of running around to do this past weekend. I hope everyone had a WONDERFUL THANKSGIVING!! On Thursday, we packed up the kids and stopped by my mom's. We didn't stay long because we were headed to my Aunt's to eat, eat, eat!! Once we got to my Aunt Beth's house, we all hung out and talked and then it was to STUFF our FACES!! I was trying to relax as much as possible because I knew I had a L-O-N-G night of shopping ahead of me. LOL. After we ate dinner, we were going to drive over to Jay's sister's house. At Sue's house, we had some dessert and the kids had a GREAT time playing with all of their cousins. They always love it at their Aunt Sue's. (Just to anybody that doesn't know, Ryan's middle name is Sue. She was named after my mother, Sue and Jay's sister, Sue. Fits pretty well!!) After we had some good family time, we were ready to head home. I had forgotten my camera so I have no pics. UGH...I hate when I do that.

When we got home, Ryan was quickly put to bed since she had fallen asleep in the car. We changed her clothes and down she went. I was in a hurry to get some warmer clothes on and head to Toys-R-Us to meet up with my cousin Kate, and her fiance, Justin. We met at 10:00 pm in anticipation for the crowd. Their doors opened at midnight. The line was SOOOOO LOOONNNNGGGG. It was a mad house. It wrapped all the way the ENTIRE shopping plaza which is HUGE!! Once we got inside, we rushed around to get everything we needed and made a mad dash for the line. From the time we got in, to the time we left, was only an hour. YESSS!! We then got to our cars, threw everything in the trunk and headed to Wal-Mart. We got to wal-mart at about 1:20 am and their sales didn't start until 5 am. We got a spot in line for a camera that Kate was purchasing and then went to walk around. Justin stayed in line while Kate and I went looking. The employees at that particular store are not really that concerned about the little items that people want. All of the sale items have signs on them stating that no items can be put into your cart or taken from that spot until 5. However, items like clothes, and little toys, are not a huge concern. They are more worried about people getting ahold of the electronics because some people wait in line ALL NIGHT for those things and it's not fair is somebody just goes up and takes one. So, with that being said, we grabbed ALL the little stuff that we wanted. I got some new bath towels for us, as well as some clothes for Ryan. I also grabbed some "Dora the Explorer" strawberry scented bubble bath. She will be SO excited about that!! Since we had most of our stuff that we needed, we just sat and waited as the clock kept ticking. Once 5 am hit, it was CRAZINESS!!! We ran around the store to grab 3 or 4 last minute items and then headed for the checkout. It went by SO QUICKLY. We were checked out and out the door within 15 minutes. You just can't beat that!!! We headed over to Target where the doors were already open and picked up some more hot sale items. All in all it was a pretty good night. I got everything on my list at all 3 places and made it home by about 7:45 am. Not to bad. It was well worth it because with everything that I got, had I not gotten it all on sale, would have probably cost me about $200.00 more than what I spent on everything. NICE!! I'm sure you all think it's crazy but hey, isn't that what the Holiday's are all about??

getting ready to leave for Aunt Beth's house









aren't these 2 such a cute pair? Ryan has been thrilled to have her "Bubba" around more





OK, so here comes the prayer part of this post. Please say a prayer for Ryan. We are taking her to CCHMC on Friday morning for another echo WITH sedation. She will be given nembutal again but this time, it will be an injection. They gave it to her orally last time, and she didn't do so well. It took her longer then expected to fall asleep and they had to give her the MAX dosage. This time, with the injection, it should "hit" her quicker and be a little easier to deal with. Please just pray that everything goes well. She is then scheduled to see Dr. Hor on Monday and have an EKG. We may be able to get the results on Friday, but if not, we will wait until Monday. I will, of course, keep everyone posted.



MORE PRAYERS NEEDED!!! Please say a prayer for Logan Jack's. http://www.whenlifehandsyouabrokenheart.blogspot.com/. He had his cardiology check up yesterday and it didn't go so well. Another surgery may be in his near future. Logan has already been through so much so stop by his page and check it out. WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU LOGAN!!!



Also, Derrick Carter needs your thoughts and prayers as well. http://www.carolinacarters.blogspot.com/. Derrick also had a follow up and his first open heart surgery will probably be scheduled to take place by the end of January. WE ARE PRAYING FOR YOU D!!!!





here is a silly video of Ryan....the second one is sort of dark but it is her dancing to Janet Jackson while we were watching the American Music Awards a few weeks ago...SO FUNNY!!!