Holy Crap is it December Already!

So things have been hoppin' around our house for quite a while. Miles is fine, Riley is fine. I am good and Sean is good. Just "stuff" ya know?

Miles has had kidney stones, now has a hernia and was diagnosed with 4th cranial nerve palsy over the last several weeks. We go tomorrow to meet with the surgeon to see about the hernia. We are talking to neurology in reference to the palsy - they think it is caused by his epilepsy. We (the pediatrician and us) feel that it may be time for a new MRI because the 'eye thing' started out of the blue - well not completely out of the blue. His eye has been turning too far in since his first seizure when we were in KY last Christmas. Now it is just doing it alot - almost all the time and getting stuck from time to time. Also - with no seizure activity since August we think there might be something else going on. (crap! I don't want something else!)

Overall - he is doing so well! (ya know minus the above) He is kickin' butt in pre-k! (I guess that isn't too hard when he is the only kid in the class that doesn't have developmental delays) He is growing...well I think so...his 2T pants are FINALLY too short (he will be 5 in May).

It turns out that I was diagnosed with the same blood disorder as Riley. (von Willebrand disease) I think back over my playing softball and cheerleading and whatever else I wanted to do and I SOOOO think he can play sports! I told him that if he wanted to sign up for Karate that he could. He said, Mommy the doctor said that I can't so I don't want to. He is such a rule follower :) love him!

My Dad is home from the hospital and cancer free! Thanks for all the prayers and good vibes!

Hopefully it won't be too long before I update again. BUT not having much medical stuff to update isn't really a bad thing - especially this year!

sorry it has been so long...

So lets see...the liver panel was normal, no cause for alarm. We went to see neuro at TCH and they said that he is indeed allergic to the diastat and the ativan and to NOT give it to him. We are to call 911 when he has a seizure and refuse ativan when the EMTs show up, refuse it again at the ER and demand fosfenytoin right away. He raised his trileptal once again - he is now up to 960mg/day! wow! however! Since he has started to take the higher dose he has done sooo well! He has started in public pre-k, which is neat. He is pretty darn smart so the public preschool for children with disabilities was a little scary for me - I was concerned about putting him with kids below his intellectual level. However, this is an inclusion program so he spends a good part of his day with the kindergarten class and with the regular pre-k class which is great!

My dad had his surgery for the cancer. I could write all night on how things went but the short version is this:
The cancer was too close to his broncial tubes so they took all of his right lung. The left lung has emphysema and COPD, he got pnuemonia too. His lung collapsed, he had to be put on the vent. He had multiorgan disfunction and sepsis. The nurses were preparing us to have to pull the plug - they just didn't think he would be able to come off the vent with just the one very sick lung. He had to get a trach after he failed the attempt to come off the vent (his bpm went up to 59!). After the trach surgery he coded and had to be given CPR. They have slowly woken him up (after 3 weeks of being out!) and he is now in Kindred hospital (inside Jewish Hospital in Louisville) sitting up and using a speaking valve to talk - after coding just a little shy of 2 wks ago! he will be in the hospital for a while still doing rehab - physical and pulmonary. I was there for 3 weeks and it was stressful to say the least - however, I really did enjoy the time I spent with my family. My sisters are the best! My mom has really been holding up great! 39 yrs of marriage and to come that close to loosing him, wow!

I miss Kentucky! I miss my home!

Riley is doing really well in first grade - has lost two teeth and is getting taller. He is pretty stinkin' smart and does really well in school. He read a 15 chapter book the other day (in one day), blows me away!

Thanks for all the prayers!

recap of this week...

So lets see...My Dad was diagnosed with lung cancer on Monday. This is the second time he has had lung cancer and it is in the same lung as before. Fourth time to have cancer all together (skin, lung, bladder and lung again). They took out part of his lung last time so this time they are going to take out just a wedge of it. He had a stress test today and did well. Next is a scan of his brain. I talked to him today and he sounded good. I feel bad being this far away...

I don't think I have written about it yet but my oldest son was diagnosed with a blood disorder, von willebrand disease. Today we spent from 8am to 4:30pm at the cancer/hematology center at Texas Children's Hospital so that he could do the DDAVP challenge. This is a medication and today was to see if it works for him. He got his first ever IV. They took his blood, gave him the meds and then took his blood again 1, 3 and 5 hours after the meds were administered. We weren't just at the cancer center but in the infusion area. There were lots of different kinds of kids there. Some for chemo, some for sickle cell stuff (blood transfusions) and some for other stuff. The kids all seemed okay. There were lots of games, movies, crafts and even a dance group came for entertainment. The parents (myself included I am sure) all looked so tired and worn out. You could see sadness in their eyes. Alot of the parents were either just sitting staring off into space or like myself reading and dozing off from time to time. Riley's blood disorder is not severe and I probably have it as well as it is genetic. I know my kids have their health issues...both of them now...but I am grateful today. Grateful that things are the way they are and are not worse, ya know? It has been stressful lately with the heart cath and then the seizure 2 wks later, the VWD diagnosis for Riley and now with my dad having cancer again...and yes, stressful is an understatement...but I am grateful for what I do have.

Another piece today that has kept things in perspective...please pray for the Dereksen family...Tommy lost his fight with CHD last night (and boy did he fight!). He was such an amazing boy and he will be missed.

Today was better!

We went to the pediatrician today. His trileptal levels were at 9. They were at 3 for his last seizure in May and after they increased his meds his levels were at 16.9. So then I am led to ask - is this a metabolic issue? Seems like he metabolizes the trileptal okay for a little while then too quickly? And doesn't metabolize the ativan at all. His liver is enlarged a bit which is concerning. We are going to do a liver panel, CBC and trileptal level in a few weeks. She said she will check the liver panel that the TCH ER did. We talked about the neuro consult that came to the ER and sent us home - neither one of us are fans of hers. She said that if they had called her (which they should have, she was on call all weekend) she would have surely not let them send us home. She is going to talk to our neuro and see if there are other options besides the diastat or ativan in an emergency.

The EMTs said that the max they can give an adult of the diastat is 10mg - 5mg each dose. Miles' one dose is 7.5mg and we were told that if that doesn't work in 3 minutes then to dose him again - that is 15mg! She agrees with me that he is possibly allergic to it - he had a rash all over his face in seconds and then his breathing became labored and sounded like he was snoring/gurgleing. His bpm went WAY down.

Oh and get this - when we got to the ER yesterday his bp was 169/96 - not kidding! His blood sugar was 111 - is that okay? I know seizing can raise your blood sugar and cause you to spill keytones over into your urine so that number may be only because of the seizure.

We do have an appointment with the TCH Neurology only because of continuity of care...I don't know if I should stay with Memorial Hermann or go to TCH for this...

I have no idea where the TCH ER put my child! He has not been himself - not even close! He won't pee, eat or drink. He has been inconsolable all day, screaming, talking in a very high pitched voice all day long, unsteady on his feet, drunk, babbling, talking about things that don't make sense or aren't possible. Right now he is taking off his clothes and turning over the footstool saying he doesn't want the top on it. He says he is thirsty but wont drink...I am going back to the ER to find my boy! (that was last night...)

So...we came in and he put on a real show for the docs! We were admitted for observation. He did pee at the ER which was good but he hasn't gone since. Their concerns were that his kidney's were not working because even though he hadn't gone potty, his bladder was not full, they are questioning whether or not he can metabolize ativan (supposed to be a pretty short lived med) and they looked at possible continuing seizure activity. He hasn't even really begun his normal postictal behavior. I did get him to eat a bit just a few minutes ago. This morning he poured his syrup for his breakfast all over his tray, put his french toast into his cereal, poured his water all over his tray and put his butter in the syrup container...but ate nothing. It has been pretty clear that there is something wrong with the boy. Hopefully we can get sprung today.

AND - some terrible person broke into my car and stole the DVD player. (pardon my language) grrr! AND then I still had to pay for parking!

...vacation all I ever wanted, vacation have to get away...

yet another seizure...

Just got back from the hospital with Miles. He had a seizure last night and that bought us another ambulance trip. Gave him the diastat and that didn't work so we called 911. He had 2 doses of ativan and one of cerebrex (phenobarbital) before it stopped. They were going to admit him but he woke up so they sent us home. I have not slept and am exhausted! He is a funny drunk! He keeps saying - I love you guys! He is slurring his words and he keeps saying he wants to do the weirdest stuff. Off to sleep for me...

the allergic reaction...

Miles' cath

This is a little video I took of Miles when he was having his allergic reaction. It came in handy when the docs came by after he started to get back to normal. He was SO asleep here! Like a rag doll!

The video didn't work so here is a link to all the pics i took while we were in the hospital, the video is in there.

home!

Sorry it took so long to update...We are home! Miles was released at about 3pm. The echo today showed some residual leakage from right to left so he is re-oxygenating some blood - which doesn't explain the pulse ox being low. His pulse ox leveled out at 94% and since we got the echo today we don't have to go back to the cardiologist for 6 months! cool! If we weren't going to be able to have the echo we would have had to go back in a month. I think the lower pulse ox is from the little collapse of his lung which will be fixed with him just getting up and around. Anyway, he is doing just great! He didn't want the IVs out (he wanted to leave them in forever) and we came home with the leads stickers still on - he wants those on forever too. I did get to bring home some of the adhesive remover so it won't hurt to take them off but he doesn't believe me. His face is a bit puffy again but not bad.

Anyway, I am exhausted! I can't wait to go to sleep! Thanks for all the prayers!

OH - and Thank you, thank you, thank you Sandra and Deanna for watching Riley and letting him stay and play with your Connor's :) He had so much fun and I cannot begin to tell you how very much it is appreciated!!!!!! You guys are AWESOME!

A little kink in the plans...

Okay so Mr. Can't Ever Do Anything by the Book is being admitted this evening for observation. He was doing great (and mostly still is) but at around 5:30 or so his face swelled up, he had jugular distension, and was very flushed. He was also very, very asleep when just shortly before he was eating and talking. The chest x-ray shows a little collapse of the upper lobe of his right lung - AHHH so this is why his sats are low! They are fairly certain he has had an allergic reaction to something but we don't know what and don't want to risk him having the reaction again once we get home so we will stay. 15 Tower is full so we will stay in the cath lab recovery room overnight. His is not a happy boy but Bammy and Bampa brought toys so he is happy with that.

Just before I came to update he was very insistent that he have some chocolate! Very cute, so I gave him a little bit - hope the docs don't mind.

We have seen so many kids come in, recover, and go home...but, this is his usual MO. After an echo in the morning we should be good to go!

Still doing great!

Miles is still doing great. He has done a few things to keep us on our toes but overall done really well. he puked after the first bit of water, had a fever of 101.2 and just not too long ago his respiratory rate was at 11 (the stinker!). He has had some tylenol and his heart rate has come back down to normalish so I think he is over the fever. Oh, and his breathing is back up to normal too. He really wants to stay asleep but we will start putting more effort into waking him up so we can go home. his pulse ox has been hovering between 91 and 93% which is lower than I thought it would be but he looks great so I am not worried about it.

I am going to get back to my little man...love to all...

All Done!!!

Superb was the word used by the cardiologist! He said everything went very well! The hole turned out to be 8mm (I thought it was 5mm), but it is closed now :) He said his conduit looked great! A gradient of 15mm (someone please tell me just what that means, lol!). When he closed the hole with the balloon to test it there was NO change in his pressures! Right now he is in recovery and being a bit of a pill. His pulse ox was 91 when we got in there but should go up when he wakes up all the way - that is lower than his norm before today but we are hoping for 100%. He fussed with the oxygen so they took it off. He is pretty ed but will be better when he wakes up (hopefully). At least 6hrs in recovery and if all goes well then they will send us home. It depends on whether or not he starts puking or anything like that. I took his picture but can't upload from the library at the hospital so those will have to wait. Okay, back to my boy...love to all!

Update :)

Sean has been updating from his phone - I forgot the library has computers! Okay, so everything is going well. We got an update at about 10:00 ish. They were still doing the hemodynamics portion of the cath (measuring all the pressures and checking out the flow and stuff) and they were just about to get started on the hole closure. I have no clue how much longer but he is doing well. I probably won't update until they are all done.

heart cath :: update

quick update from the nurse ... the ASD is in acceptable location and they have started the cath

heart cath :: update

this morning went well miles woke up early about 4am, of course, and with plenty of "i want water". the heavens opened up just as we were headed to the car, but miles stayed dry. once we got here everything went super smooth and miles did great! ms bell his teacher is here and our minister was here to see and pray for him just before miles was wheeled back totaly peaceful from the pre-op drugs

dr. justino will take a few preliminary pics to determine if the ASD is in a good location for the device, if not then it maybe a quick visit today. but no worries since miles stats are not anything critical right now... but keep the prayers coming for our precious boy

Cath update...

Just got the call, Miles will be first case on Thursday so we will be there bright and early at 6am. He has stayed healthy all week which is awesome! She did mention this time the possiblilty of staying over night which actually makes me feel more comfortable than sending him home afterward. Fingers crossed all will go well (and all will go as planned).

I will probably update again later as he will see the Neurologist this afternoon.

Rescheduled...

Miles' cath has been rescheduled to next Thursday the 24th. There is a kiddo that needs a cath more urgently than Miles so we got moved. I am okay with that. We have been the one that bumped people off of the schedule so I completely understand where the other family is at (hopefully it isn't anyone that I know).

The next thing is to keep Miles healthy until next Thursday...He has Neurology on Tuesday (at the same time that I will be getting a root canal!) and OT on Wednesday...busy week.

Oh, My Dad will be having a bronchoscopy/biopsy on Tuesday so think good thoughts for him!

Love to all,

Becky

Cute Miles stuff

Two things Miles said today that were cool :)

We were talking about getting haircuts for the boys and he said "Oh, I love haircuts!"

We went out for ice cream instead. On the way home he was upset that we wouldn't be watching a movie. He said "I like movies cause if somebody has to go potty we can just pause it. Or if I have to go potty, or anybody has to go potty, we could pause it. And I love to pause it."

He is so cute :)

update...let's see...

We had the evaluation for PPCD and he definitely qualifies because of health stuff but they said he is probably too smart. I don't think they will hold that against him - at least I hope not.

The heart cath will be Friday, July 18th. I am nervous, but I think that is normal (right? please say yes :) He is doing really well health wise. He has a bit of a cough so we have been doing breathing treatments to keep him healthy. For the next three weeks we gotta keep him healthy. I will just die if he gets sick and can't have the cath after all this waiting and build up.

Riley is doing very well. He is really enjoying his summer at the YMCA - except the swimming part. He has not enjoyed that at all. He is a bit scared of the water (takes after his mommy - yes, I am 32 and I cannot swim). Sean has been taking both boys swimming and they have been enjoying it - at least I think so - I have not been swimming all summer.

I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Is this just part of the gig?

I am pretty frustrated right now to say the least but I am wondering if I am justified or not. I might not be. Miles goes to daycare at our church - First Christian Church of Houston (First Christian School). They are a little freaked out by him to say the least. At first they were just a little nervous, as is everyone at first I guess. When the epilepsy diagnosis came they were okay at first. After the big seizure at Christmas they have become increasingly more nervous about him being there. When we sent the Diastat to school they freaked and called a lawyer - saying that administering this medication is invasive and against state law. They don't want to be held liable for sticking something in his butt. I told them, "If you let him die then you will be much more liable than if you stick something in his behind that I asked you to put there". They requested to be trained on how to administer the meds. I searched and searched and finally an angel said she would do it. I paid her $100 and she trained the whole school on how to administer this very self explanitory medication. Either Sean or myself have always gone along on the field trips because we want to be a part of everything. Today there is a field trip to go bowling. When Sean arrived to drop him off they said Miles can't go unless one of us goes along - that it is required for one of us to accompany him on the field trip. Required? Are there any other parents that are required to accompany their child on a field trip? Why do we not have this in writing? Speaking of in writing - they sent me a legal agreement about the medication. It says:
"Rebecca L. Conway-Suggs and Sean Suggs agree to indemnify and hold harmless First Christian Church/First Christian School and their officers, employees, agents or instrumentalities (the "Indemnified Parties"), from any and all claims, liabilities, demands, suits, causes of actions or proceedings of any kind or nature, losses or damages including attorneys' fees and costs of defense, which the indemnified parties may incur arising out of the negligence, error, omission, intentional acts, or other cause arising out of or resulting from the administration of any medication or medical procedure by the Indemnified Parties for or for the benefit of Miles Suggs. The obligation to indemnify and hold harmless specifically includes claims, liabilities, demands, suits, causes of actions or proceedings arising from the negligent acts or omissions of the Indemnified Parties."

I have not signed it and just cannot agree to ANY medication or medical procedure! I am thinking of editing it and saying "...the administration of Diastat as prescribed for a grand mal seizure lasting five minutes or more..." What do you think? If they were to accidentally give him some other child's meds they wouldn't be liable according to that agreement! Should I add something about the school being trained on how to administer it?

Also, I think that the teacher treats Miles differently than the other kids. At his birthday party the kids were very 'careful' with Miles and concerned about him while they were playing. There was lots of hugging and "Oh, Miles!" from some of the kids. I think his teacher may have given the impression to the class that Miles is fragile. I SO don't want that for him!

So here is where I am wondering if I am justified or not in being upset...

Is his health really that fragile? Do I underestimate the situation? I know that he has had several seizures of all different types and we don't really know what triggers them. I know his heart is a big deal. But am I expecting too much from the daycare? From my point of view - they are a daycare - they know that not all children have picture perfect health - they expect to have to give medication sometimes. There are lots of kids with health issues - is Miles' health more of a big deal than a normal kid? (btw, he is such a normal kid!) Is this just part of the gig and I have to get over it and realize that his health will freak people out - and they will be nervous so I will forever have to make concessions?

I know when we first were looking for a daycare people were so freaked out by him and his health. We had one place that looked at me like they were terrified and said "So, he could ACTUALLY turn BLUE?" (I thanked them for their time and left) Have you other heart moms experienced anything like this? Am I totally downplaying his health? Is it expecting too much to expect the daycare to treat him as any other kid?

update...

All is well. Miles is doing great. Riley finishes kindergarten next week! Can you believe it!? I have started the process to have Miles evaluated for Pre-K (PPCD). (only a year late!)

The latest from the docs is that Miles' spleen is enlarged again - about 50% larger than it should be. We are looking at his blood to see what might be going on. He looks and acts JUST fine! He did puke at the movies yesterday - right out in front of the box office! Oh well, such is life. I am so used to puke and people staring at me and the big puddle of puke at my feet. Who cares :)

No big plans this holiday weekend. I am actually at the office making up some time from yesterday - Riley left school sick with a painful tummy. Seemed to be just fine when we got home. He said he wanted to go outside and play. I told him that if that is the case I will take him back to school so that he can participate in field day. He changed his mind and plopped down on the sofa.

I forgot! Miles cath will be July 14th to close the fenestration. (The schedule hasn't been confirmed yet)

I hope you all have a good holiday weekend...

another seizure...

I was woken up this morning by Sean saying there was something wrong with Miles. It was 5:28 (I overslept a little). When he went in to check on the boys whenever he got up Miles was face down in a bunch of vomit and had peed the bed. He was rigid and non responsive - staring off. When I got up he was certainly seizing. I called the pediatricians office first - after I went to the car to get the diastat - which I couldn't find. When the guy picked up i said I think I need to call 911. So we did. I had to go wait in the parking lot for them - this complex is sooo big! The guys that showed up seemed competent but for some reason they called another crew to come in. That is when things went south! They took a bit to asses him and get him out to the ambulance. Then they couldn't figure out how much diazepam to give him - I'm not used to working with kids he kept saying. He got on the radio and asked for a supervisor - no supervisor to be found. He tells me that he is relatively new and is used to riding with someone and that the 'basic' that was with us is from another station so they don't know each other very well. His heart rate is about 189 or so and his pulse ox was hovering in the 80's. They put him on oxygen and got an IV started. (still no decision on the dosage) He called someone to get help for what the dosage should be. That guy came back with 1.4ml and he didn't agree! Meanwhile Miles' seizure is getting worse - in full convulsions now - pulse ox down to about 71%. I say - his seizure is getting worse if you are interested! He peed on himself again and then vomited into the oxygen mask. It took at LEAST 45 minutes to leave the parking lot of my complex. THEN the 'basic' goes the wrong way! Anyone from Houston can tell you that from 290 you take 610 to 59 to get to the hospital, right? So this guy takes a side street, 43rd street about 4miles east to I-45, south to loop 610 west - around to where my street hits the freeway! then 610 to 59 to 288 to MacGregor to the hospital - - this took an extra 30 minutes AT LEAST! We called them at 5:35 or so in the morning and pulled into TCH at 7am! Then the 'basic' pulls in the wrong way into the ambulance bay and the guy with me in the back tells him to pull out and re park - I tell them - it doesn't matter, lets just go in! So when we got there the hospital was GREAT! We had Kenya as our nurse who we have had before and she was so great with him. He stopped seizing on his own after lets say 2hrs or so - he never had any meds cause the guy never figured out the dosage! When they asked for vitals he said - Oh, I left them in the truck. He had written them on his glove and then when Miles puked he threw his gloves away!! He had put nothing down on paper - well on the back of the EKG read out he took some notes. I got the to call and complain. He was SO not ready to be out on his own! This is the first time I have had issues with HFD EMS - they were great the last time we had them. The lack of confidence on his part was astounding!

So, to conclude...Miles was observed for a bit, took a chest x-ray to make sure he didn't aspirate, and checked his trileptal levels. All was good - they said it was just a 'break through' seizure. So we are upping his meds again! He is at 4mls now and will go to 4.5 this week and up to 6mls next week. His pulse ox hovered around 90% without oxygen which is low for him but okay. His heart rate never came below 130 which is a bit high, he is usually about 117 or so. He is resting sweetly in my bed and we will follow up with our doc in 2 or 3 days.

I guess he won't be sleeping alone anymore! I would rather he puke on my head than drown in his own vomit!

overdue update...

man, I am bad at keeping this up to date...

Neurology definitley says epilepsy and they have upped Miles' dose of trileptal once again - from 1ml to 4ml since Christmas. He is doing well on it although he has had a few epidodes of puking from a deep sleep and then going right back to sleep and twitching. We are keeping an eye on this to make sure we don't need to increase it once again.

Cardiology said the seizures are not caused by his heart (yea!). However, the regurgitation in his pulmonary valve has gone from severe to worse and his fenestration isn't doing its job anymore so we are headed to the cath lab to close the hole. His surgery will be in July so we still have a while. His base pulse ox now is about 93% where it used to be 97% or higher. We are looking forward to having the hole closed. Strange right? looking forward to surgery? But it is pretty minor compared to some of the other options and what he has been through already. His conduit is slightly narrowed but not so much that they will need to do anything to it during the cath. Dr. Justino thinks the conduit will last another year - then we can stent it - then we won't need an open heart for a while! He thinks maybe 8yrs since his first one! That would be another 4 years! Sweet!

What else...Oh! Riley is a friggin GENIUS! He took the Stanford test and scored in the 99.9th percentile of ALL kindergarteners in the country...well all that take the Stanford. His average grade score is about 3rd grade! He won a reading comprehension deal at his school and will be going to the city competition in May. He also has passed all of his Accelerated Reader testing and will have his picture on the wall at school. This is a big deal because it is unheard of for a kindergartener to do this. Even first grade is a big deal. Guys - Riley is just so smart it is wild! The other day he was making this whine noise and I told him to stop. He said - but I like to make that noise. I again told him not to make it. He said - But it's my mouth. Oh man am I in for it with that additude :) (I welcome it freely! Bring it on mister!) I need to teach him not to be flippant to his mommy!

Tax Season is kicking my butt so I am off...

no post since thanksgiving?

What is wrong with me? Well, things have been freaking insane here to put it mildly :) Lets see...the abbreviated version or the super duper long version??

How about the highlights...

Me and the boys went to Kentucky for Christmas - which was awesome until Miles had a really bad seizure that lasted a little over an hour. He had to be in the hospital for 4 days. They had to intubate him after his airway collapsed from all the drugs they gave him to get the seizure to stop. Then they paralyzed him because he was still seizing and fighting the vent. Then we were flown by helicopter to the children's hospital in Louisville. We will see the neurologist in Houston on Jan 29th and Cardiology wants to see him on Feb 5th. During the seizure he was a deep blue color but breathing just fine - well, until the meds collapsed his airway - but until then he was breathing well. his hr went up over 200, pulse ox was barely 80% on 3liters of oxygen and his bp was super low (very scary!) The current super scary thought is that maybe his heart triggered the seizure. yikes!

I will have to post cool pics of the snow we saw!

We ended up flying home and leaving our car there and my mom is graciously driving it down here this weekend.

Also, me and my husband have decided to divorce. We have to file still but it is certainly going to happen. We are working together very amicably to do what is best for our kiddos. I think we actually will keep the house we rent and then rent an apartment. The kids will stay in the house and mom and dad will switch out when it is our week. Does that make sense? Pretty strange I know but it feels like a good way to keep it stable for the kids and to 'ease' into the divorce. It has been hard coming to this decision but it is what is best for everybody.

Other than that, we are great! (can you hear the sarcasm?) Really, we are okay. We are both looking forward to moving on and starting over. It is pretty strange how okay we both are with it but it is good.

Later everybody...I will try to not stay away so long next time!