Compare the Candidates

A lot of American's seem to have their head buried in the sand when it comes to politics.  While it is doubtful that anyone with half a brain will agree 100% with either candidate, it may behoove the average joe to look into what President Bush and Kerry stand for.  Pick the most important issues and see where your guy stands.  You may be surprised!

AOL:  COMPARE CANDIDATES

Look at what your prayers have done! (fr: Mommie Kim)

Hello Family and Friends!   Attached is a picture of Kiersten.  We have sent several pictures to Judy and she is checking to ensure they will work on the website.  Here is a preview of our baby girl.  Is she not the cutest thing?!!    She has been "on again - off again" with the C-Pap.  She just came back off 2 days ago.  She has her feeding tube back in her mouth...the picture shows when she had it in her nose.  We are hoping she is successful and stays on the nose canula this time.   She continues to develop fluid on her body and then they have to give her lasix (medicine) to help her pee it out.  This is why she had to go back on C-Pap the last time.  It is common for preemies to build up fluid due to less proteins in their system (per the doc).  Please pray she progresses forward without continuing this yo-yo effect with nose canula and C-Pap. Thanks!   I am meeting with lactation tomorrow at noon but have already tried breastfeeding her for short periods.  It is going OK.  Sometimes she takes it and sometimes she looks at me like "what is this and why are you trying to torture me?!!"  smile!!  We're working on it together though.  The nurses reminded me that she has been alive for 8 weeks now and is just getting introduced to it whereas newborns get introduced within 24-48 hours after birth..makes sense it would take her some time to get aquainted with the idea....   She is 4 lbs and 4 ounces.  Big Girl!!  She gets her first round of vaccinations beginning on Saturday - her first shots..yikes!!   Her second eye exam revealed NO rop and NO rp...yippee.....good thing!!  Her first hearing test went well..she hears good!!   Her red blood cell count is good but sometimes she gets behind and needs a transfusion.  She hadn't had one in a long time but had to have one last week....she is doing better now as far as that goes...they are giving her iron but since that constipates her they have to give her suppositories too...poor baby girl...nobody likes those huh?!!   Our church family wanted to provide meals for us....we accepted twice a week...harder to do more than that since we are at the hospital late some nights...but we are sooooo appreciative of the people who have brought us meals so far....Todd & Heather, Dan & Sue and Bryan & Valerie have brought us meals and they have all been great....with leftovers too...thank you soooo much!!!   Nationwide had a rummage sale this last weekend on our behalf that I heard about...I didn't get a chance to make it there but we are also very appreciative of that and the people who put it together...I will be at Nationwide again next week...for a longer time period to see everyone and say thank you in person to the coordinator(s)....I really can't begin to convey all of gratitude we feel for all of you.   Many still send letters, cards, emails, donations, help with household items...etc.....we appreciate it all...most of all your prayers...thank you!   I will send more soon!!  Sorry I have not sent updates more frequently...I am at the hospital more often now with her and that leaves little time at home.....thanks for your patience on emails and pixs...   Love and prayers to you and your families....Kirk and Kimberly  

Goodbye Heat Wave!

Just as I predicted by Saturday evening around 6pm a breeze started blowing and cooling everything off.  I was invited to a BBQ and was surprised when I opened the door to leave to find the air an obvious 10 degrees cooler than it was just an hour or so before.  I took Madison to the BBQ, which actually turned out to be a potluck.  The hostess said she'd BBQ hotdogs and any other meat that you wanted to bring - like that was going to happen!  She's a great person but all of us know that she's no cook.  I can't imagine anyone of us buying a steak for her to ruin on the grill.  Besides, I didn't even see a grill on the patio!  The hotdogs that she served were BOILED!  ha!!  Regardless, we had a great time talking about the fun we had in the 70's when we were all very young.  This is the same group of folks that I ran around with back then.  We've known each other for a good 30 years and have shared some wonderful times together, and we remain close to this day.  By the time darkness fell the temperature had cooled off to about 75 degrees with a nice hefty breeze.  Madison had a good time too, and after I dropped her off home around 10pm I headed homeward to my girls.  I was kind of bothered leaving them there in that hot house although the ceiling fans were on so I knew they's stay relatively cool.  Let me tell you, when I opened up that door from being outside in the really cool air, that hot house hit me in the face like I'd opened an oven door!  The girls didn't seem bothered by it, but I let them outside and then hurriedly threw open every window and let that cool breeze waft through each room and push the hot air out.  I didn't even sleep with a fan on that night it was so cool!  What a relief!   

Yesterday it was in the mid 80's with a breeze and was a perfect day for me to mow the lawn and do other odd jobs outside.  I spread another couple wheelbarrows full of barkdust under the treehouse, planted a new flower, watered the lawn really good and called it a day. 

Hope your weekend was great and full of blessings!   

HEAT WAVE!!!!

We are in the middle of heat wave in the Pacific Northwest.  Lord knows we aren't used to these high temps and are suffering through until it passes.  The good thing is we are close enough to the coast that it never lasts too long.  Before you know it the cool marine air with waft its way through the area bringing with it relief from 100+ degree days. 

I could never live in any other area that has this kind of heat daily.  God knows how folks like my niece live in Arizona or other desert areas. 

I'm watering lawn and flowers like there is no tomorrow.  I'm afraid to look at my water bill when it comes next month!  I may have to refinance to pay it, ha!  But regardless of the heat the flowers and tomato plants look great and seem to be thriving just fine.  I've already had 3 pickings of tomatoes and they are so juicy and sweet!  Nothing like vine ripened tomatoes.

Madison came over one evening this week and got to see and play in her Little Tikes playhouse that grandma (that would be me) bought her.  She loved opening and closing the pink door and walking through it like a grown up!  Once inside she'd peek out through one of the four little shuttered windows and giggle at us.  She loved it so much that mommy and daddy went home and bought her one for her house too!  Theyjust picked it up tonight.  She will have many hours of fun playing in it, for sure.  She is really walking now - all over the place!  She has 13 teeth already!  She doesn't talk yet, but it is obvious that is coming soon, as when she falls or drops something she says "OH-OH!"  She is such a doll!  I am blessed beyond words.  But I am not a good grandma because I haven't posted any new photos of her.  I have to empty my camera first and then I will make sure to take new ones soon.

My girls are doing well although I noticed a week ago that Katie was holding her right ear kind of cock-eyed, so I made arrangements to drop her off at the vets for an overall exam.  I knew that she'd be a basket case if she were alone so I included Sophie Jo too.  The vet looked them over and sure enough Katie had some kind of fungal bacteria doing a number on her one cock-eyed ear.  He cleaned all of their ears out and sent Katie home with some ointment and ear drops.  She is back to normal again holding those perky little ears up straight as a stick. 

Brian's house (my old neighbor) finally sold to a new family.  They are getting ready to start cleaning it up, painting and so forth.  They had the 3 big pine trees cut down and separate our properties, and I must admit that it looks much better already.  I'm not sure what they will do with that piece of property, now that the trees are gone.  Perhaps landscape nicely or who knows, maybe they will have a pool put in.  It'd be an excellent spot for one. 

Incidently, I thought I should mention that Mommie Kim is not related to me.  She is a co-worker that I adore.  My sister Kim already has her "babies" grown up with babies of their own.  I just wanted to clarify so that you all realize that.

Love to all!

FROM MOMMIE KIM

Hello Family and Friends!!   Just wanted to let you all know how our baby girl is doing.  She is now up to four pounds!  Woo-hoo for her!   She was placed back on C-Pap for a week and was just taken back off of it yesterday.  It is common for them to go back and forth for awhile.  We are all hoping she can stay off C-Pap this time though.  She just has the nose canula now.   She has had some fairly bad reflux, which is also common for preemies.  The goal is to get her feeds down to 15 minutes every three hours.  They had her at an hour every three hours but it was too much.  They just changed her back to two hours of feeds every three hours.  This has helped with the reflux.  The goal is to keep her off C-Pap even if we have to take a step back on her feeds.   She still drops her oxygen stats from time to time, which is normal but very stressful for Mommy.  Yesterday was a hard day for me.  A lot of grieving over the twins and then while holding her, her stats kept dropping.  I had a little meltdown and so we put her back to bed and got her stats back up.  The nurse said she would have been fine...not to focus on the monitor but instead to look at the baby and see how she looks (which she looked ok) but it was too much for me.  I just want her to be safe and get strong.  We will be very happy when she is strong enough to breathe easily on her own and come home.   We have been working on the baby room, which brings us a lot of joy and a lot of sadness.  It looks good!!   For my friends at Nationwide - I came to Nationwide on Tuesday and for those of you I had time to see it was wonderful..Thank you!  I will be back this week or beginning of next to see folks I didn't get a chance to see.   Thank you for your continued prayers and support for our family.  We will be sending pixs to Judy (who is setting up our family website) and hope to have those up by this weekend or next week.  I will send a new email with the address once we have pixs on it.   Love Kirk and Kimberly

FYI

Don't miss out on a blessing 
because it isn't packaged the way that you expect. 
   

Daily Affirmation

I’ll tell you a secret about
this world: it meets you
exactly where it finds you
and gives you what you
present to it. So, if you go
out there looking for
anger, it will justify your
anger. If you go out there
looking for love, it will
justify your love. If you’re
looking for animosity and
hatred, it will give you
animosity and hatred. It
will match exactly what
you put out.  That’s the
key if you want health,
wealth, and happiness.
The Daily Guru