It is bacterial meningitis. And it’s a rare form. The doctors aren’t sure how to treat it and don’t think that what they’ve been doing is working.
They are meeting with an infectious disease specialist in a little while who will hopefully have some answers.
Please pray for wisdom for the team of physicians, healing for Olivia, and peace for Kristie and George.
Okay, so y’all are beyond awesome. Thank you for all your prayers. Just knowing that prayers are being lifted up all over the place for Olivia and her sweet parents is such a blessing.
The latest news is that they won’t know anything for sure until later tonight or tomorrow morning. They are concerned that it is bacterial meningitis because Olivia’s white blood cell counts are very high. And if it is bacterial meningitis, there could be complications.
In the meantime, your prayers are being felt. Olivia was finally able to fall asleep in her mama’s arms a few hours ago. It was the first time in almost 24 hours that she hasn’t acted completely miserable.
Olivia’s parents went through years of infertility and, ultimately, in-vitro fertilization, to have this sweet baby girl. They’ve been through so much already. Please continue to pray for the peace and comfort that only God can give.
Y’all are the best.
I normally don’t post things like this, but it’s all I can think about right now.
P and I have some very dear friends that have a two month old baby girl named Olivia. They just called to let us know that they are in the ER with her and have found out she has meningitis.
They won’t know if it’s bacterial or viral until tomorrow morning. Bacterial is the worst of those two options.
I know they would so appreciate your prayers if you feel led to pray for them and their sweet baby.
Last Thursday, we finally managed to get our outdoor lights up. And, really, there is nothing as rewarding as knowing you’re putting all that time and effort into something that will be irrelevant in less than two weeks.
Lucky for us, we have a four year old that we can put to work.
She acted like she wasn’t going to climb up the extension ladder and we had to remind her the lights weren’t going to hang themselves.
Seriously kid, there is no way you’re going to get those eaves lit up if you don’t get your little behind on that ladder.
We don’t tolerate slackers.
After all, the whole reason we put the lights up is to ensure she has the BEST CHILDHOOD MEMORIES EVER.
And that’s a lot of responsibility for a parent.
In all honesty, P and I decided hey! let’s spend the afternoon doing something that has the potential to put us on the fast track to marital counseling.
Hanging the outdoor lights seemed like the most obvious choice.
I made the executive decision to buy all new colored lights this year because Caroline enjoys the colored light, and I really wanted to go retro with the lights of ye olden days, otherwise known as my childhood.
I showed P the boxes of lights I purchased and he began to spend precious minutes, minutes that could be spent illuminating our home, reading the instructions.
Seriously.
I didn’t even know Christmas lights came with instructions.
He said, “It says that you can only string 60 lights together at one time, that means only two strands can be connected.”
Me: “And?”
Him: “Well, that means to do the house the way you want it done, we’re going to need about 11 extension cords.”
Me: “And the problem with that is?”
Him: “To do that we’d need to go buy 8 new extension cords.”
Me: “Those directions don’t know what they’re talking about. All the boxes say that. It’s just a suggestion. A GUIDELINE, if you will.”
Him: Looks at me skeptically and begins hanging lights.
Pretty soon he got into the whole spirit of proper outdoor illumination. The beauty of lighting your home with Christmas lights is to have the moment of flipping the switch a la Clark Griswold, then basking in the glow of maximum wattage feeling the sense of pride from a job well done.
And knowing your lights are so much better than your neighbor’s.
That’s the true spirit of Christmas.
The moment isn’t the same if it involves plugging in 11 different extension cords.
So, we climbed ladders and hung lights until, finally, the moment arrived. We plugged in those bad boys, flipped the switch and they all came on.
For about two minutes.
And then this is what we saw.
Apparently, they are not kidding about the whole 60 lights maximum thing.
So we did the only thing that could be done, went inside and ordered sushi.
The next day P found some extension cords, revamped our lighting system, and lo and behold, we have this.
Best of all, we get to enjoy it for a WHOLE WEEK.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to do Boomama’s Christmas Tour of Homes because I knew it would mean I’d have to clean the kitchen which, thanks to all the Gingerbread House construction and sugar cookie decorating, has flour and festive sprinkles in places that will never be clean again.
But, then I had an epiphany! I can use some pictures from last year because, due to lack of decorating creativity, my decor this year is virtually the same.
So, what I’m saying is lack of inspiration and laziness totally pays off.
That being said, I have included some original, never-before-seen photos of all the festiveness.
And y’all can totally tell which are which because last year’s photos are centered and this year’s are not, due to ongoing technical difficulties, otherwise known as my inability to write html code.
This is my front door complete with Christmas wreath. I bought this wreath last year because I adored its faux sugar cookies and glass candy canes.
It doesn’t take much to make me happy. A few hundred yards of ribbon, some greenery, and fake pastries.
Here’s our Christmas tree. I think it has a drinking problem because it consumes a full bucket of water a day.
This is in stark contrast to last year’s tree which was, literally, dead in the water the day we brought it home. We were one spark away from making the 5 o’ clock news with the headline “Why Real Trees are EVIL and Will Ruin Christmas”.
These are our stockings hung by the chimney with care. I also display pictures of Caroline with Santa from previous years on the mantle.
There’s not much else to say about that. Oh, except I added clear, white lights to the garland this year in a fit of creativity.
Because I live on the edge.
It’s just a matter of time before I get my own show on HGTV.
The chandelier is the one thing I usually do different each year…but not this year. I had 842 yards of ribbon left over from last year, so I used it again this year. I did, however, switch out my glass urns. Last year they had M&M’s, this year they have Christmas ornaments.
Hello HGTV? Are you reading this?
Last year, M&M’S.
This year, ORNAMENTS.
That kind of innovative thinking takes some talent.
Next up is a sweet little nativity I bought for 75% off after Christmas last year. It’s not fancy, but it’s also not breakable which is a huge plus when you have a four year old that enjoys constantly hiding the baby Jesus and a couple of wisemen in the Christmas tree where they have a tendency to plummet to the ground.
And look how cute the cow is with the rooster on his back. I would have bought it for the cow alone.
Although, if memory serves, the angels didn’t say, “And lo, you will find the babe lying in a manger next to a cow with a rooster on his back”.
Last, but not least, this is the kitchen. What y’all can’t see is the thin coating of red and green holiday sugars that cover the floors. I’m hoping to have them clean by 2009.
But, then again, why put that kind of pressure on myself?
After all, it’s Christmas.
Hope y’alls is merry.
P woke me up yesterday morning with the news that my car had been broken into during the night. It seems some social deviants had smashed out my passenger side window so that they could steal…well, nothing.
Fortunately, the only thing of any value I had in my car were my CD’s. And they remained sitting in their case on the front seat.
Which proves what P has always said. No self-respecting thief would steal my CD collection.
It seems there isn’t really a huge black market for The Carpenters Greatest Hits.
But we still had to deal with the hassle of getting the window replaced, which required me to drive around in the cold drizzle without sufficient coverage from the elements. It was a joy.
Merry Christmas, Social Deviants. Hope you enjoy the big pile of nothing you got out of my car.
And thanks for the bonus of having to spend $250 to replace a window at Christmas time.
Since it was a cold, rainy day, I knew I better have some sort of afterschool activity planned for Caroline, so I lifted my self-imposed Target ban and purchased a Gingerbread House Kit.
Needless to say, Martha Stewart does not live here.
However, the Gingerbread House Kit achieved its purpose and kept Caroline entertained for the better part of five minutes.
Five minutes that didn’t cause me to twitch at all due to the misplacement of gumdrops and peppermint candies.
And there was certainly no voice in my head was yelling, “THE GUMDROPS ARE CROOKED. THE GUMDROP PATH IS NOT STRAIGHT. FOR THE LOVE OF GINGERBREAD MEN EVERYWHERE, STRAIGHTEN THE CANDY CANE.”
I rewarded our dogs for scaring off the burglars before they took off with my Carpenters CD the night before (why else would they not take it?), and let them in the house to join us while we made our Gingerbread house.
Bruiser kept his eye on the Gingerbread snowman, possibly because he looks so creepy with his red candy eyes.
Scout, however, is a dreamer.
Clearly, I am all hyped up on the sugar and the cold medicine.
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