New Blog Header

I have LOTS to catch up on (blog postings, emails, laundry, paperwork, etc...) but I wanted to post really quick to show everyone our beautiful new blog header... Adrienne, from Our Unexpected Journey surprised me on Whitney's birthday (this past Tuesday, 8-25) with a new blog header she had created using the recent picture I had posted of the girls. Isn't it beautiful? What an "unexpected" surprise :) Thank you Adrienne, I love it!!!

I promise to post more soon... hope everyone had a great weekend!

Finally, an update (sort of)

indiana state fair august 2009

Ok... I FINALLY have a computer... I was 100% without a computer for close to 3 weeks and finally picked up my new computer from the place that transferred our old documents, pictures, videos, etc... from our old computer to our new computer last Thursday. I may have to give my computer up again, however, because I am still not able to find all of the pictures I had on my old computer when I go to look for them on the new computer. This caused a near heart-attack a couple of weeks ago when I picked up the new computer and was told that everything was transferred from our old hard drive to the new computer. I didn't have time until 2 days after picking it up to turn on the new computer and look around, and the first folder I looked in was July 2009 and pictures from anne's 3rd birthday were missing, pictures of Whitney turning 11 months old, and other pictures that I KNEW I had taken and transferred from my camera. After meeting with the place and taking my computer back in they continued to work on it and I still cannot find everything (but most pictures are here, so I can at least sleep at night) :)

My mom is continuing cardiac rehab therapy and after appointments in Indianapolis within the last couple of weeks with her cardiologist, lung specialist and liver specialist she was told she did not have to go back for 6 more months to see the lung and heart drs and if her liver numbers continue to improve and all are within normal range, she can be dismissed from the liver specialist, YEAH!!!

Anne and Whitney are both doing very well!!! Whitney will be one this coming Tuesday, August 25th!! I can't believe it! It does not feel like it was an entire year ago that we were rear-ended by a semi-truck in a construction zone (luckily he was attempting to stop, but just didn't stop in time and ran into us) and Whitney decided that the big "bump" she felt from the accident would kick her into gear to hurry up and come into the world about 3 weeks ahead of her nice, calm, scheduled c-section. I had been having contractions prior to getting hit, but after we were rear-ended they definitely kicked into a higher gear and ended with Mike driving us to the hospital the next night going nearly 70 miles per hour down Main St. in Carmel to get to the hospital so that Whitney would not be born in the car!!! I arrived fully dilated and plus one but still insisted on a c-section (thanks to prior experience with Anne). Luckily, they were able to get me to surgery quickly and our little Whitney was born. Little did we know that the whirlwind of the accident with the semi-truck and movie-like arrival to the hospital was only the start... we have been on quite a ride ever since! We cannot imagine our lives without Whitney and are so happy and thankful to have her in our lives, especially after the way she had to fight to survive for the first 3-4 months of her life!!!

We are also very thankful to have such a caring, sweet big sister for Whitney. Anne definitely has her toddler moments with Whitney (like prying Whitney's eyes open when she was just about a week old and saying "Wake up!"... I guess it would make sense to a 2-year old that if you just open the babies eyes for her, she will wake up and be ready to play...) but overall she has been great with all of the adjustments that have been made to her life with the arrival of her baby sister. She is so good about therapists coming to our house, going to doctor appointments, visiting her sister when she has been in the hospital, etc...

It is so cute, when Whitney cries or gets upset (which really doesn't seem to happen very often), Anne will go up to her and softly say, "It's okay sweetie".

Anyway - just some thoughts as Whitney's birthday approaches in just 5 days.

Technical Difficulties

Our laptop has been dying a slow death for quite a few months now. The part where the ac power adapter plugs into the computer has become loose and it will not hold a charge, not only that, but if you happen to bump the computer, the cord, or the table the laptop is sitting on, it will shut down suddenly and then it takes FOREVER to start back up! In addition to the power issue, there is 0% free space left on the c drive which explains why everything takes forever to come up and the computer is running like we have dial up service and it is from 1987. I finally took it to a computer repair place this past Tuesday because I would go days and sometimes weeks before turning on the computer because it was just too frustrating to deal with. They confirmed that the ac power adapter issue was going to be too labor intensive to make it worth fixing and that we would likely be better off buying a new laptop. This is frustrating, because our computer was new in the spring of 2006 - so it really wasn't too old yet and this is NOT a purchase we wanted to make. Unfortunately, a computer has become a necessity rather than a luxury, so we found a laptop we like and bought it. I took it to the computer place on Thursday for them to transfer everything from our old laptop for us... I got a phone call on Friday saying it will be Monday at the earliest before it is ready for me to pick up. I am at my parents right now and thought I would post a blog entry about our "technical difficulties". I am considering "quitting" email. I cannot even imagine what my inbox looks like at this point.

Whitney and Anne are both doing well. My mom is MUCH better and is feeling more herself every day! We celebrated Anne's 3rd bday on July 16th. We also went to a very fun family reunion at the Indiana Dunes on July 11th - it was great to see all of the "O'Grady" cousins :)

While I have the chance, I would like to ask for prayers for my friend Mallory's Dad. He had surgery this past Wednesday and they are waiting for a path report back from the IU med center about his biopsy. Any and all prayers will help, they definitely made a difference for Whitney and for my mom!

More to come when we have our new, operable laptop!