Long Time Since I've Posted

Well - -

It's been nearly 2 or 3 weeks since I've had a chance to post anything.

The week after Thanksgiving - I got very very sick. I basically couldn't hold any food down for 4 days in a row and lost about 15 pounds. Not exactly the best way to lose my baby weight - but I'll take it. I'm feeling much better now. Aubrey was sick during that time too - but she seemed to bounce back quite well. Molly was the only member of our family that did not get the flu.

Anyway - that's why I've been so behind with everything. With all the time spent getting caught up at work and at home -- I've had little time for my blogging!

So what did you miss:

1 - House is going to be done last week of January.

It's starting to look like a real house - they have all the drywall, doors, trim, and cabinets up now and just started painting and staining the inside this week. It's starting to become pretty real that we'll be moving into a new house in nearly a month - -CRAZY!

2 - Welcomed another Angel to the AS Family.

About a month or so ago a mother in Connecticut contacted me after seeing pictures and videos of Aubrey on this blog. She saw so many similarities with Aubrey and her son Jack. Jack is about a year older than Aubrey and still did not have a diagnosis other than PVL. Well - - fast forward to this week - -and Jack received his blood work back confirming that he is deletion positive for Angelman Syndrome(same at Aubrey). How neat that Aubrey and this site helped another family across the country find an answer. What a neat thing!

Both Jack and Aubrey have the PVL brain damage in addition to AS - -this, as I understand it, is VERY VERY RARE - - maybe a handful of cases in North America. I'm glad that we'll have each other through this journey.

Welcome to the family Melissa and Jack!!!

3 - Getting Ready for the Holidays

We can't wait to go back to South Dakota for Christmas to see everyone. We'll be in Beresford the night of Tue Dec 23rd and be there until Fri Dec 26th. We'll head up to Aberdeen Friday afternoon and drive home Monday the 29th. I can't wait to see as many family and friends as possible!


Well - - that's about it from here in Omaha. I really need to get more pictures and video up of the girls - because let's be honest -you'd much rather see that than read - right!?!

That's all for now

Posting from the road!

So this post is basically a test of technology for me! We're driving back from Aberdeen SD and I'm on my Blackberry.

We had a great time eating, shopping, seeing old friends, and even got out to see a movie!

You know that game High - Low,here are mine for the weekend:

HIGHS:
* Getting nearly 90% of my Christmas shopping done!
* Meeting Justin and Amy's children...Hey guys!!
* Seeing Aubrey get more adventurous with her crawling and walking!
* Hearing Molly babble more.

LOWS:
* Chris getting sick.
* Uncle Seth getting sick.
* Grandpa Gosch getting sick.
* Forgetting my camera's memory card.

Other than a nasty flu bug..this weekend was perfect.
I love the holidays and it was a great way to kick it off!

Now back to the 6 hour car ride!

Some Random Pictures

My mother-in-law just chastised me for falling behind on posting pictures!!

So - - this is for you Ardys:

Here are some pictures of Aubrey at Physical Therapy from last week. She's practicing her walking on a Rifton gait trainer.

In this picture you can see the small little ankle weights she has on - they seem to help her balance a bit.

Here's a cute one of Chris and Molly after a Vikings win and Molly showing off her skill of sitting up on her own!

We'll have to take and post a bunch of pictures this weekend!!

That's all for now!

Another ultrsound and set of blood tests.

Ultrasounds and blood tests seem to be the trend this fall for Aubrey. This morning she had - what I hope will be her final ultrasound this year. It's her 3rd in the last month following her hospitalization for pancreantitis.

But good news - - the nurse just called me to relay that everything came back normal!

She also called with last Thursday's blood tests - and her amalyse and lipase levels are finally down to a normal too. As a reminder - her lipase levels were once at 15,000 when she was in the hospital. This is compared to the normal range of 20 - 300. Just 2 weeks ago they were 1000, and now they are 292 and are therefore acceptable! YEAH!

Lipase is an enzyme that the pancreas creates that is used to breakdown lipids(fats). Because of her high levels - - Aubrey has been on a very restricted diet since leaving the hospital -- only allowing 5 grams of fat per day. It's been a little challenging to do this - and she has to be getting sick of eating the same type of food day in and day out. The nurse is going to check with the doctor to see if he will loosen up her diet to say 10-15 grams a day so hopefully we can bump this up in time for the holidays. That would be great - - but if not -- we have it down pretty well!

She has one final blood test the first week of December - and if that one comes back normal - hopefully Aubrey can avoid these for a long time!!

UNO Dance Competition - done and a success!

We just completed another busy weekend.

As you may or may not know - I coach the dance team at the University of Nebraska - Omaha in my "free time." I say that - as my free time is getting less and less by the day. But while others do book clubs or golf leauges - - I coach a college dance team. It's my creative release and it helps keep me somewhat sane.

Anyway- we hosted our annual dance competition yesterday. It was a long, busy day - but was a huge success. In one day we raised nearly 40% of our operating budget! This money will go towards funding our trip to NDA college nationals in Daytona Beach, FL in April 2009. Last year the team placed 5th in the nation - - and we hope to improve upon that this season! I have a wonderful group of young ladies that dance for me and I'm just glad that I can keep dance in my life while being a mother, wife, and a career professional.