Honest Feelings

Alright Moms and Dads out there...you know the situation:  ___ year old daughter walks in with a clearly disgruntled look on her face and you ask "what is wrong Honey?"  She continues to scowl at the world and says, with a slight bobble of the head, "Nothing."  My response is usually some variation of:  "Well, tell your face that."  It doesn't necessarily change anything, but it seems to make me feel better ;-)

So Thursday night, I got a taste of my own medicine.  Things were pretty hectic around the house, I was finishing a call shift and was falling asleep trying to help Meili with her homework, and something spilled on the couch.  Perturbed, I got up to help clean things up.  As I came back to sit down, Meili said, "Daddy, are you ok?"  I quickly said "I'm fine" and I saw in her eyes that similar look that I give her when she brushes my questions off... So, I stopped, looked her in the eyes and said "Mei, everything will be fine, but I'm feeling pretty down right now."  She smiled and gave me a hug.  It was a nice moment with her and actually felt pretty good to admit that the burden felt heavy. 

Ainsley and I are in the hospital.  She had another fever.  She's on antibiotics, IV fluids, and is perking up.  She had been getting treatments Tuesday, Wed, Thurs, and Friday.  By Thursday night she was pretty wiped out.  Friday they gave her a blood transfusion and more chemo.  By Friday night she was back in with the fever.  We are hoping to go home tomorrow.  

We just learned that for the months of June and July, Ainsley will be hospitalized for 16 days.  So far most things have been outpatient, with a few overnights.  This marks a big shift because it will be 4 days in a row, then a week and a half off, then 4 days, repeating throughout the 2 months.  

I heard two quotes the past few days that I have really liked.  I'll attribute them to the people that I heard them from, but they may have told me who they heard them from and I just forgot.  1) Mandy wrote Jenny and I a very uplifting letter.  We loved reading it.  She and Trevor are such great friends to us.  She said "the grass is always greener where I water it."  Simple and true.  2) Tiffany and I were chatting and she said  "it's none of my business what other people think of me."  It made me laugh.  

St. Francis Children's Hospital pulled one of the most brilliant moves I have ever seen in life this week:



Yep, those are the window washers!!!  They have been here all week washing the windows!  Coolest thing ever.  So here are our 4 super heroes:  Ainsley, Spiderman, Batman, and Hulk Smash!  Can't wait for the windows to be dirty again!