Recap, Refresh, Redirect

In my middle school days, I had an unhealthy addiction to Tetris.  After (or before) homework was complete and chores were done, I'd plop myself infront of our Mac LCii and watch the blocks fall to the Russian music.  I felt so accomplished when "Red" held the high score over "Pud."  And there was something cathartic about seeing everything aligned with no gaps or spaces.  As I've written this post over and over, I've had Tetris on the brain.  Not because I feel like I'm reworking my words into perfect rows of four, but because every time I get ready to press publish on this update a new piece of information appears that needs to be manipulated and placed into the bigger picture.  The blocks keep coming.  If I don't find a place for them, it all becomes a jumbled mess.  So I'm taking a moment to hit pause even though there are gaps and unknowns.  This post needs to go from edit to publish today.

First, a recap of where we're at right now.  Aurelia had a tough couple of months.  It started with some balance and speech issues, then what we thought were febrile seizures and a long night in the ER, followed by a diagnosis of absence seizures, followed by an extremely high fever, more seizures, trouble breathing, and a four day hospital stay.  Pause, take a deep breath, continue.  These events tabled a few things that were in the works (growth hormone treatment) and accelerated other things (gastric emptying study and an EEG).  The GREAT news is that we found out yesterday her EEG was seizure free and her seizure meds are working!  Now we will reenter the growth hormone conversation and continue to pursue a good way to pack the lbs on that skinny little kiddo.  And while all this was going on Joey came home (yep, he was gone for the seizures and hospital stay), we hosted Easter, visited Eastern Washington, started Aurelia's transition from birth-3 to preschool, and Marguerite was baptized.  See what I mean about lots of blocks?

And as I handle the blocks falling and hope it doesn't look like I'm frantically trying to line everything up, my sweet sister-in-law nominated me to receive a $50 gift card at And Then She Snapped.  I feel very special being nominated, and pleasantly surprised that I don't look like a train wreck all of the time.      Please follow the link and vote for me (#9). If I win, I promise I'll only buy super fun things.

Finally, I want to redirect your attention to Sevenly.  Each week, Sevenly promotes a different cause by designing limited edition apparel and accessories and donating $7 of every purchase to the featured organization.  Get it?  7 days, $7, Sevenly.  This week, the featured organization is Cure Uganda which provides shunt surgeries for Ugandan babies born with hydrocephalus.  Cure International holds a special place in our hearts as I was treated at Cure Afghanistan during my second miscarriage.  Plus, the Sevenly Shirts are super cute.  I'm going to order one tonight, I hope you do too.

Ok, I'm going to un-pause now.  But first I might go play a game a tetris.