More Sad News

When Mom died, Aunt Sue and Uncle Dan took her dog CoCo home with them. She had been doing well until last night apparantly. When Aunt Sue came home and tried to take CoCo out, she was kind of lethargic. She went out peed, but had trouble pooping and trouble coming back in. So they took her to the vet. The vet did some tests and x-rays and found fluid in CoCo's lungs and abdominal cavity. Their diagnosis: lung cancer. Just like Mom. So they had to put CoCo to sleep last night.

All of us in the family are wondering if this is a coincidence or not. There are several other isolated incidents too that may or may not be related. We are wondering if there is something in either the marsh behind the house or in the house itself. I called my friend Abby to tell her and she told her husband, who happens to be a heating and cooling guy. He thinks that there could be something wrong with the furnace or something and will be checking it out very quickly. I know that we need to know, but I don't want to know if it means that Mom's death could have been prevented.

Its too early for Christmas!

Why is it that Christmas comes to the stores earlier every year. Last year it was before Halloween. This year there is already stuff up! Can we get through one holiday at a time? Wal-Mart actually had there Christmas aisles up before they had any Halloween stuff out. I am dreading Christmas this year. All my childhood, Christmas was my least favorite holiday. It seems that for one reason or another, I was always disappointed. Then the last five years or so its actually been pretty good. Maybe I let go of my expectations or whatever, but I've actually enjoyed it. It has also been nice to do things our own way and to try to start our own family traditions. This year will be really hard though without Mom. Especially because I'll be remembering last year, when she was with us. I know, I know, at least I had last year. But it still won't be the same. We (the Murrays) will be spending Christmas out here in Washington because I'll be too far along to be able to travel. All the rest of the family, including Matt, will be spending Christmas together, presumably in Michigan. We asked Dad to come out so we wouldn't have to spend it alone, but he won't. And now, Sara wants to do away with gifts for each other. She wants to do a secret Santa with a limit of $20. That would be between her, me, Tim, Matt, Ricardo (who is not even officially a part of the family), Sue, Dan, BLake and Vonne. I HATE that idea. We have such a small family as it is. I could understand if we had a large family, but we don't. I usually gift in couples (Dan and Sue get a joint gift, Blake and Vonne, etc.) so I basically only have 5 gifts to do. Its not much. Besides, I usually make the gifts. And I already have this years done. Sara doesn't think that's fair if I make and she buys. I just don't understand why its such a big deal. Somebody tried to start that last year (probably Sara) and it got kiboshed by Mom. She hated that idea too. I think it sucks!

On to other news. . .

Had a garage sale on Saturday and made out awesome! $140 and it wasn't pay fay weekend. I sold my table and chairs and the old sofa set. Now I actually have room to put my stuff from Mom when I get it from Moose's.

Just as the yard sale was ending, TJ fell off the neighbor's 4-wheeler. Kennedy was driving and when she took off, he wasn't holding on good enough. He had a goose egg the size of a golf ball on the back of his head so I rushed him straight to the ER where they didn't do a thing for him. They said "oh he has a minor concussion. You can go home now." Gotta love the military's version of health care. Top notch.

Tim leaves for Yakima on Saturday for 2 weeks or training. That will suck.

I haven't had a great week. A lot of stuff about Mom has really been hitting me hard this week for some reason. I've found myself in tears just about everyday. (maybe its due partly to pregnancy hormones) I know its okay to have bad days (weeks?) and its okay to still cry. But nobody really wants to talk about it. Matt is gone and wouldn't talk anyways. I have tried to call Sara when it gets really bad since she's about the only one who should completely understand, but she won't talk. She always says she has to go and will call right back, which ends up being 6 hours later.

And so here is my journal of feeling sorry for myself lately. Oh well. Take it or leave it, I guess.

Clean Teeth

Kennedy went for her first official visit with the dentist today. She had her teeth cleaned. We are proud to report no cavities. She thought the dentist was cool, especially his tooth brush that went "Brrrr". TJ is excited to go too, but I think that's just because he wants a toy and a new toothbrush like Kennedy.

Its a . . .

I had my ultrasound today and yes, we know what we're having. We didn't want to, but the doc told Tim and then when we asked him to write it down, we wrote it in thick black pen on a thin white paper that he only folded in half. So when I picked it up, there it was, glaring back at me. So we know. If you want to know, you have to ask us though. I am disappointed to know, I really wanted that surprise. But it does eliminate the need for only green and yellow.

We are still floundering trying to find the right gymnastics class for Kennedy. They got rid of the level she was supposed to move to. Abilitywise, she can move to the level (Aces) after that, but she doesn't have the attention span that those kids do so it really isn't a good fit. The other class she can go into (Nova) is kids 5-7 but they are a mix of beginners and not beginners. A class with too many beginners in it isn't good for Kennedy because she is bored and goofs off. We are thinking of putting her in a Nova class twice a week with one coach who is really good. Most of the kids are not beginners in that class, but aren't quite up to the same skill as Kennedy yet. A few are though and one is from her old class too. We shall see, I guess. We go back on Thursday.

Well time for naps. TJ is already laying down and I think I'll go lay down with Kennedy for a bit.

The Tooth Fairy

Kennedy learned about the tooth fairy last night. A little too early for me though. She took off on her bike and turned a corner too fast. She landed on her face. She scraped her nose and lip, ripped the skin that connects your upper lip to your gums, ripped her gums in two places, and knocked out her front tooth. We quickly got her and the tooth cleaned up and tried to put it back in, but her gums had already swollen too much. So I took her up to the ER, where they told me they wouldn't do anything for her and we would have to wait a minimum of three hours to even be seen by a doctor. And they wouldn't call the dentist on call, even though I threw a fit. I was able to get her in to the dentist this morning, only to find out that they would have taken her last night and should have been able to get the tooth back in. We are hoping that they can put a fake one in or something like that. The only thing that keeps her from being hysterical is that her best friend Isabelle is missing the same tooth, the same way.

Kennedy also started her new gymnastics class last night, before the tooth accident. That was a fiasco. We showed up for class, along with another girl we knew, and they told us that the level that the girls had moved up to no longer exists. And the class they were going to take didn't have a teacher yet. After much talking, we got them to start the class with a different teacher. And they actually moved up two levels, supposedly, however the class is just a beginner class for older kids. We weren't very happy with class last night. It was way too beginner for Kennedy. We are going to give it a month and then move her to a different class - the beginning of the team classes, called Aces. It is more of a committment though, minimum of two days a week for an hour and a half each. They also have an optional conditioning class for two hours on a third day. The biggest downfall is the price increase - from $60 to $105 or $135. But its the difference of an hour a week versus 3-5 hours a week. I think I am going to have to start looking for babysitting or something, just to keep up with the gymnastics bill! Oh well, it will be worth it in the long run.