Snow and Sun

The sun is out but the world here in Ashland is still a blanket of white. Reports vary, but I am thinking we got somewhere around 15 inches when it was all over! One of the best pics we have is our hammock...check it out...

We had asked our Facebook Fans to post pictures of Frosties made in honor of CJ and they went to work yesterday. Click HERE for the highlights (so far). I love the variety and some of the many "girly" snow-people. If you're not on Facebook but want to make a Frosty for CJ, just email it to me at rachel@cjstuf.org and I will post it for you. Eventually I'll get them onto my picasa site which will eventually be on the CJSTUF website. All a work in progress.

The Glass family came over and built a snowman just for CJ in front of her window. He's rather rotund so we call him Frosty the Hutt! They did a great job. You can find him in those Frosty pics in the link above.

While a few readers had to cancel/delay their appointments yesterday, we still had a steady stream of visitors over the day. Some of our neighbors stopped by. We got Aunt Lynne and Uncle Vance skype-ing in from Denver. They read to Charlotte last night and Aunt Lynne is reading to her again as we speak. We have a pretty full docket again today and I think most everyone is going to make it.

Charlotte was up off and on throughout the day. When she was awake, she was drinking chocolate milk (very slowly), responding to questions, and even gave Roger a hug at one point. The nurse came by to hook up the morphine pump and she has been calm and peaceful the whole time. No pain flareups so that is good. We have continued to administer the other meds every 4-8 hours.

I will reiterate the positive vibe that we are getting from these visits. The house is comfortable, calm, and cozy and I think a lot of that is the regular visits from others. It keeps us from getting too mope-y and gives us good distraction. Plus, Charlotte can probably only stand so much from her parents...she needs variety! I am so glad that we can keep her at home. It makes all the difference in the world.

Forgot to mention this from the other day: we had a special delivery from MCV via Melissa O. (a music therapist who works at MCV and also a good friend). When CJ was in the hospital, Heather (from Child Life) would always bring these plastic Care Bears in to visit Charlotte. They were for her to borrow, not keep. As Heather pointed out, kids who are in and out of the hospital are frequently given much but it's so good for them to learn that not everything that comes to them is for them to keep. They sometimes have to share. Anyway, the Care Bears became a constant ritual and Heather would always make sure the bears were in CJ's room any time we were hospitalized. Sometimes they were even waiting in our room before we got there! Another favorite she and CJ shared was the Wonder Pets so sometimes Heather's Wonder Pets snowglobe would come to visit as well. Long story short, Melissa brought the purple Care Bear and the Wonder Pets snowglobe on Friday for CJ to "borrow".

I took the first shift last night and slept on the trundle bed next to hers for a few hours. After the 3 AM meds, Roger and I switched. We actually have a birthday party at RNR today so he will be heading in to work later this afternoon.

At the moment, we have another angel who stopped by with his backhoe to plow our driveway and Kolbey's driveway. Amazing!

Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend, whether you are somewhere snowy or not. It is still difficult for me to believe that the holiday season is upon us but every once in a while I realize that Christmas is this week.

More later...R.