Could you believe that this sweet little girl landed herself in the hospital for a second time this year?

But she did. Thankfully, she's home safe, sound and on the mend. It started on Thursday, Bella started vomiting. We met Kerry and the kids for breakfast. Kerry allowed Bella to have milk, even after she vomited. I could tell she was sick, but I got some really great cuddle time in with Bella. I was the lucky one, and Bella puked all over me. Aren't I lucky? Kerry took Bella home, and we took Jonathan for the day. Bella seemed okay, only eating crackers and juice. But once Kerry gave her garlic bread, she puked again.

Friday morning Kerry went in to check on Bella, and she was still asleep at 9am. So, she let her sleep. But when Bella wasn't awake by 10am, Kerry went in and woke her. She was very lethargic and hardly moved. Kerry called her pediatrician who recommended that Kerry take Bella to the ER. So, Mom and I went to get Jonathan, only to discover that my brother wasn't going with Kerry to take Bella to the ER. I then decided to stay with Kerry to take Bella in. It's a great thing we did.

Bella was so lethargic, she didn't move when the nurses started her ivs, did a catheter test, or drew multiple blood samples. No crying, no nothing. She just laid there. A chest x-ray showed the Bella had the beginnings of pneumonia in her left lung (the lung that collapsed during her peanut incident). Bella was given IV fluids immediately, which did nothing. They admitted her and started antibiotics. Because of her earlier incident, Bella's lung is very fragile and it will take 7 years for her lung to repair itself. Doctors said it will take about a year for her lung to less susceptible to infections. So, basically, Kerry is going to have to watch her like a hawk, and notice every cold because a common cold could easily lead to pneumonia for Bella.

Like I said though, she's home now. We took Jonathan home and he was happy to see Mommy. We had taken all of Bella's dirty laundry (pukey animals, linens etc) home and got all of that washed. So tonight Bella will be able to sleep in her own bed with all her own animals. This little girl is giving us a great reason to be thankful.

Happy Halloween!

This year, I continued my tradition of taking the munchkins trick or treating with Kerry and Grandma (Kerry's Mom). This year, Jonathan was a robot (an IronMan 2 Robot), and Bella was a fairy!


Bella wouldn't sit down, she was too excited. Jonathan wanted to eat his candy. Jonathan didn't last long trick or treating. Bella got to ride in the stroller (since she's only 17 months). She got into the spirit though! When someone would hold out the bowl for her to pick her candy, she'd take big fist fulls of candy. It was too cute! One house was all decked out (Freddy Kruger, Pin Head, Jason and others were watching over the yard, while the man in the house had a fake chainsaw and a really gruesome looking mask on (with some FUN-KY hair) This wife of the house was sitting on the porch dressed like the evil witch). Bella, was not afraid! She looked at it all and was intrigued. She babbled with the witch lady. Managed to take 4 of 5 pieces of candy. Jonathan on the other hand, only made it half way up the sidewalk. I stood near the porch with the witch, and Kerry stood at the other end with the dog, but Jonathan wouldn't do it. He would not walk out, past the man with the chainsaw (who had turned it off so to not scare Jonathan). But then, Jonathan walks up behind the man, and goes "Boo!" then turns around screaming/crying and runs back to mom. It was pretty funny. Meanwhile, Bella was having a pleasant conversation with Pinhead.

There were some tears (over not being allowed to eat candy, or Bella finishing Jonathan's juice box after Jonathan said he was finished with it). But it went pretty well. It wasn't terribly cold, but both kids had long johns under their costumes. Bella had 2 layers under her costume, but she didn't appear cold. At every house Bella would wave and babble bye bye to the nice people at the door. It was cute. On the way home, Bella and I worked on saying Nana and Papa. We also showed Kerry how Bella can say Auntie.

We had no more gotten home (to Kerry's house), and I had gotten on the road to go home (to Naperville) then Jonathan says "Mommy, my feet hurt!" and the barfs all over. What a great way to end Halloween. =)

It's over

For those who haven't seen my plethora of facebook posts (updating when EACH miner came up), I've been following the mine rescue in Chile since it started. Only got a couple hours of sleep so I could watch this. It's amazing to me, all 33 miners are out of the mine after 70 days. They are safe and with their families. That is just amazing to me. Every miner that was brought out brought tears to my eyes. Even bringing out the 6 rescue workers, I was crying. Each chant of "Chi Chi Chi Le Le Le" was awesome. I love how the Chilean President told the last miner when he reached the surface, that his shift was over. I don't care if you don't believe but after this, you have to believe in something. Good work everyone.

No, I have not fallen into a well, or been eaten by aliens. Unless the aliens are disguising themselves as grad school. That's right, I've gone back to school! Benedictine cut their tuition by over half for their adult cohort programs, so i decided now's the time to get some more education. I am trying to get an ESL endorsement. At the same time, I'm taking a class through the county to finish my middle school endorsement. So my weeks now look like this: Monday night, class is Bloomingdale from 4:30 to 8:30. Wednesday night, class from 4:00 to 8:30. My Wednesday night class also comes with 4 hours of online work plus homework on top of that! It's good times. The great thing about this ESL endorsement is that there's one class every 6 weeks. We have to complete 6 classes. So by June, I'll have an endorsement! It's crazy. I've also started working for The Reading Tree. I am tutoring students in whatever subject they need help in as well as teaching ACT prep classes. So as you can see, i'm a bit busy. But before I got so busy, I managed to go with Nana and the babies to the pool. They were too cute.

A Funny Story

Mom & I went to the zoo the other day with Kerry and the kids. Before we go to the zoo, we always go out and eat somewhere because zoo food is AWFUL! So we go to this little place down the street from their house for some breakfast. Now, I always get something HUGE so that I can feed Bella off my plate. So, I got the Strawberry French Toast. It comes with 8 pieces of french toast with a strawberry sauce. While waiting for our food, Bella ate some crackers, a couple of those seaseme seed bread sticks, and she had 1/2 of a croissant. But she STILL wasn't full, so, I cut up 2 pieces of my french toast and Bella just chews em up and eats em. I think only 1 piece landed on the floor. I then started to cut up strawberries and feeding them to her. I gave her a bite and then went back and tried to eat a piece myself but she opened her mouth wide at me and then leaned over in her high chair towards me (a sure sign that she wants more [unless she's going to puke]). So I keep feeding her strawberries until they are ALL gone. She fusses some at me and I just look at her and start cleaning her off. I start talking to her and say to her "You're not a baby, you're just a strawberry!" And my goodness, next thing I knew, Jonathan stood up on the bench and says to me "She is not a strawberry Auntie! She's my baby sister and her name is Bella." He then sits down and finishes his glass of water. I about died of laughter.

I'm a HORRIBLE Auntie

I'm such a bad Auntie. Bella turned one over a month ago and I haven't told ya'll about it! I need a slap on the wrist. (I feel better now).

June 2, Bella turned one! We had a fun little party at Jon & Kerry's. We brought pizza over for dinner and a cake.


We all enjoyed dinner but the best part was the cake. Bella LOVED her cake (as any little girl does).






Once she was done eating/smashing her cake, it was time to clean off baby (and mommy).


Somehow, in cleaning off baby, everyone else got covered in cake. The more I think back on it, we should have just let the dog clean her off. Bella opened lots of presents and had lots of fun. She fell sound asleep early and slept in the next morning. I can hardly believe she's one and that Jonathan will be 3 at the end of July. Can we put a stop to this and keep them little forever??

A Walk Down Memory Lane

Home sweet home...or it was. For as much as I didn't really enjoy high school, its still that place that has those weird/bizarre memories. Like going off the diving board in a garbage can during Kayaking, although the box was much more fun. But anyways, NCHS is being "remodeled". The SPS hallway has been torn down and a lot of the 3 story wing has been gutted (or torn down to studs). But the day before demolition started, the general public was allowed to tour the school.


Our class's mural. Ah the memories of our class. Not many good memories. My favorite is graduating in the POURING rain. Best idea ever! Some of my favorite places were:

The Little Theater

The High Ropes Course/Rock Wall

The murals painted on the walls, especially this one.

The mural in Mrs. Jarman's bathroom in the pit.


What's left of the tile in the long hallway/commons (mmmm...asbestos)

Mr. Paulsen was my tour guide. He's my hero.

Oh NCHS, you'll always have a special place in my heart.