Save Baby Gavin

I was thinking this week how much perspective life takes and how everyone has their storms and their rainbows.

I often wonder if I paint too many rainbows because the storms are so emotionally tolling. But in doing so, I make it seem like life may be easier than it really is and I am doing an injustice to the other parents that are going through all of this with me. There is constant stress and fear that is a permanent part of having a sick child. You never get used to it and you never get over it.

On the other side, I feel guilty saying how hard it is because I have been blessed with a remedy for Gavin to feel good again. Trust me, I never for a minute take any of our miracles for granted.

So I wrote two versions of the same story this week (written on 3/9/08). Both are reality, both are talking about the same things and events. You can choose to see the storm or the rainbow in life. I see both. I believe that is true for every person in every situation. I choose to chase the rainbows, and weather the storms.

Photo: Les Chatfield

WEATHERING THE STORMS
This past week Lauren got the flu immediately after her “half” birthday party. We kept Lauren and Gavin as far apart as we could, because we just knew if Gav got this we would be in the hospital.

We woke up and scrubbed the house every morning at three a.m. Without fail, five days into Lauren’s start, Gav woke up with a high fever and some unusual habits.

He was like a little hot barnacle that clung to my every move. We were told to bring him in and his liver enzymes were in the 1000 range, which is quite high.

He was then admitted for 48 hours to do every culture under the sun and every lab test known to man. He was absolutely miserable and we couldn’t give him anything for the pain. (Tylenol is processed in the liver and ibuprofen in the kidneys, and both organs were being sassy).

Meanwhile, on the home front Lulu had turned from bad to worse. Grams took her to the doctor and she had a terrible ear infection.

Because it takes about 48 hours to get cultures back Gav was an infection risk and had to stay in his cell, I mean room. We go back in on Tuesday to check his numbers.

He is starting to feel better and if he continues he is to have yet another surgery on Friday.

Sometimes you just feel so helpless and blind through this. It’s like no matter how much I read I can’t seem to figure it all out, and sometimes I have to reread things a zillion times to get what they are saying. Sometimes it feels like you know just enough to shoot yourself in your own foot.

They say live a normal life and then give you fifteen handouts about mosquitoes, sun and food (summer) and flu’s and warning signs (winter). It’s enough to make you feel like you are going crazy. It gets so overwhelming, sometimes I wish I could trade spots with Jay and go to work just to get away. The truth is the disease is always here, and we will always be dealing with a part of it. It’s a constant mind game of how to approach life and its events.

There will always be a permanent sadness for having to do the things that we have had to do to Gavin. That Lauren has had to watch some horrific things done to her brother, while her parents sat by and watched or worse when we were the ones doing it.

Since we have been home Gavin won’t let me out of his site and I got his bug. You can tell now this is all starting to mentally affect him and he has to sleep literally on top of me for comfort at all times. We thought that it was supposed to be the first 100 days, but now have learned to expect another year of insanity.

Life as we know it has not changed. We still don’t see our friends, we still don’t make plans because we will inevitably be canceling them. Life can be ironic, unpredictable, even cruel at times…but it is always beautiful.

Photo: Steve Jurvetson

CHASING THE RAINBOWS
I bet you didn’t know what this past week had in store for us? Neither did we until Lauren found out it was her half birthday, so she was in charge of treats at school. She looked up at us with those chocolate silk eyes and asked what we were doing special for her at our house. Unwilling to tell her that a half birthday is an un-event, I asked what she was interested in.

She wanted her two neighborhood friends over for a little half birthday party. Two happy meals, two friends, and two sundaes later, Lauren was quite pleased that she turned four and one half. She said that this time, she “even felt older”. Unfortunately, she caught a bug and four and a half had a rougher start than anticipated.

Gav is currently obsessed with the movie Madagascar and is insistent about trying to put it into the tv anyway that he possible can. He also loves dangling his little body onto the fridge pull and clutching it for dear life until it opens.

When his appetite and grip started to go south, we knew that he was getting Lauren’s bug. Poor guy ended up inpatient and had every test done to ensure that it wasn’t another organ failure, or a rejection, or staff infection. Luckily they have an amazing child life program and had Pet Pals.

Gav was able to play with a golden lab and a mixed breed. He was beside himself with glee. He kept busy in his room by painting and throwing things around and watching me get them. Jay and I at least got to spend some time together. We’ve been very lucky to be able to support Gav and each other through most emergencies and clinic appointments. He is always the hand that catches me as my fingernails dig into the side of the cliff.

It allowed us time to read and learn and try to figure out what is the best plan for Gav’s future well being. We know that when he gets older he is going to be asking us why we did what we did, and we better be able to explain it to him. We are very lucky and blessed that his body has done such a remarkable job accepting his transplant. I know there are millions of parents out there wishing there was something like that out there for their child. I know that we are forever blessed to have friends and family that have stood by us through all these years. Although there have been bumps, we will figure them out as they come and find our balance once again.

Both Lauren, Gav and myself are on the mend and very happy to hear that the sun may be coming out. Life can be ironic, unpredictable, even cruel at times… but it is always beautiful.

Jill

Gavy’s liver enzymes are trending downward so we are holding on the biopsy and elective surgery right now. Luckily we have a team that is working very well together and willing to move things around to do what is best for Gavin.

I have a feeling that this is the same cold that Lauren is struggling to beat. Gav will stay inpatient throughout tomorrow to give him antibiotics and we will try again next week pending his recovery.

Thanks for all the prayers!

Jill

Gav had been a little unlike his normal self and sure enough we are having some complications. When we took him in today, his liver enzymes started to sky rocket within the last two weeks. The two usual culprits are infection or medications, so we are going in for a liver biopsy tomorrow as well as to relieve some other stress to his kidney.

I am on my way up to meet Jay and spend the night with my two favorite boys in the hospital. I am hoping that this is just the flu, (I say “just” even though I am completely terrified of Gav getting the flu as well.) since Lauren is still on the mend from the flu that she caught last Wednesday…say a prayer for our little man!

Jill

Lauren: (Fists and Teeth clenched) “Ahh! I am really getting upset with Gavin.”

Gavin:(Still doing what is frustrating Lauren despite her repeated requests to stop, and getting equally frustrated with her being frustrated with him.)

Mom: (typical mom speech) “You know Lulu, he is smaller and still learning how to play with things.”

Lauren:(exasperated with me)”Mom, he’s not a baby anymore, he’s two.”

So is the downfall of the “baby” and the entrance of the toddler. Gav turned the magical disaster of two and is exploring his new found freedom with more aggressive “mine’s” and assertive “no’s”.

He has started walking and is just picking things up like he has been doing them all his life. He has some new Elmo shoes he loves so much, and when I take them off he tries to put them back on himself. We call him his “lifts” since he seems so much taller in them.

In his slide show this year there is a picture of us reenacting a silly pose by statues, however they are a very serious set of statues. We saw them on Stanford’s campus when we went for our medical opinion and they have stuck with me as pertinent to Gav’s life. They embody six burghers of Calais during the hundred year war. The short version is that the burghers bravely sacrificed their lives for the rest of the city (this is not the part that reminds me of Gavin). The artist, Roden, who depicted them in their statue form took the opportunity to celebrate the idea that heroic deeds may be performed by ordinary people.

Gav, I must tell you that at two feet tall and two years old you remind me that ordinary people can do extraordinary things. The way that you have risen to life’s challenges and remain so strong and ferociously filled with life and love, you are a hero. An ordinary two year old living an extraordinary life.

My sweet Gavy Ry,

Here’s a birthday tribute video creatively authored by his special mom. Happy 2nd birthday to our little fighter!!!

It has been a busy week—-I have rearranged my house 500 times, bought 1000 tickets to vacation hot spots and added a sun room so Gavin can play comfortably outside without having to worry about getting burned with his new meds, and lastly sold my house to buy an RV and travel the United States before Lauren hits kindergarten…in my head that is.

In reality, Lauren has been my companion and watched a little bit of America’s Next Top Model Marathon (I’m a sucker for marathons) and now has developed her own runway walk, that she calls “Hot Stuffin’” which has made for constant entertainment for her biggest fan(s)!

She is the water to Gavin’s swim trunks—- there is nothing that girl could do that Gavin wouldn’t think is the coolest thing on earth. He is starting to stand independently and is finding the courage to take a few steps again. His little chest puffs out bigger than the blimps at the Macy Day parade!

But boy oh boy does he have the temper. We call him the little “Tazmanian Devil” when things aren’t going his way. He makes no qualms of letting you know EXACTLY how he feels about it (which usually involves laying flat as a pancake kicking and screaming as loud as he can). That boy goes from calm to hot faster than Earnhardt can make it around the track! His new thing is trying to put on everyone’s oversized shoes and walk in them (hence the frustration, a baby can’t walk in a man’s size 11).

Lauren is totally in love with knowledge right now, she is so interested in everything! Especially nature, she’s going to be my little hippy! Thankfully there is the Internet so I can still make it seem like I know everything, and we look things up in the “Pedia” (Encyclopedia). I know I said I wanted to learn to cook gourmet, but for now Lulu and I have become crock pot champions…we have officially eaten through all the casseroles that we so appreciated!

We did get into a disagreement this week over a rabbit. There is a sole rabbit that is running rampant on my $3 end of season landscaping purchases from Home Depot. I vote the rabbit has to find a new territory, where Lauren strongly appreciates the tracks and their presence. Never thought I would ever relate to Elmer Fudd. Any tips to spray things to scare the bunnies? I’m down a hydrangea, an emerald something, and a burning bush. This is going to be like a 200 lb bunny!

Jay has been busy taking care of Gavin, who had a rough medical week. He was in the ER all Tuesday and has just had a lot of little things that add up to a lot. We meet with one of his doctors next Monday to discuss some of the complications, and hopefully it will give us a more clear picture of what is to come. We thought it was going to get easier post transplant, but it’s still a bit overwhelming. We think this part of the adjustment period may last the first 100 days and then it should taper off, but we shall see!

Jill

Lauren says we owe Grams, Pop Pop and Julie A LOT of quarters for helping out so much after transplant (that’s what Lauren gets paid for her daily chore). Things have been in quite a state around the house with Jay taking on the role of Mr. Mom. It always makes me think of that country song where he learns about crayons going up one drawer higher and rewinding a movie 15 times. It has taken about a week for him to get into a good groove with the new cares and two wild children in tow. It’s always a process to figure out how to work Gav’s disease into life and then for it to become just an aspect and not the center of it. We are trying to establish a new routine.

Gav strongly refutes Daddy putting him to bed in his new routine and has like a five minute slug fest with him each night as the battle of the wills takes place between a man, a baby, and a rocking chair! Gav is starting to walk and move around more now, so some of his strength may be coming back. He has been doing amazingly well still, but we are still tweaking his meds and he has to go in three times a week for his blood draws (thank God for the hickman)!

It amazes me how animated he is now, it’s like we have to relearn this whole new baby. Makes us realize how sick he really was. He is not quite fond of me not being able to lift him, and it breaks my heart to hear him say “uppy” and see him so sad when I can’t, but we find time to snuggle up in bed and hang out next to each other on the couch.

Lauren is a busy busy girl with her Grams at her side…the two of them are just the best of friends. Yesterday they went on a hike around the neighborhood and researched the tracks in the snow. Lauren is convinced that two of the tracks are probably deer and the other beaver. All those wild beavers around here in the city—-it’s almost hard to believe, but the girl knows her tracks (:

I have some good and bad days, usually the mornings are pretty rough and the nights are rough, it’s hard to lay flat for long periods of time. I have watched more TV in two weeks than I have in a year and I have decided that I need to do Amazing Race, start running in half marathons, and learn how to upholster furniture while becoming a gourmet chef on the side. Also, I would really like to become a hiking, nature type family. So I have some things to look up at the library for all my new future niches. I feel that maybe I am in a mid life crisis, since I seem to switch between HGTV and MTV and feel that these two channels are not very similar.

Jay and I try to relax by watching season two of The Office, one of our new found loves. Hope this finds you laughing at the end of your days and staying warm! Go Pack Go!

Jill

Everyday since Gavin was a twenty week fetus we have waited each day to see if he would be alive the next day. We never planned ahead, we never let our imagination run wild with the future. I now can see a little boy with a life ahead of him…I can finally start to let my imagination go.

We have just experienced a miracle, one without explanation – and one not only medicine can explain…we have been profoundly touched and overwhelmed and in complete awe.

I will have to update you more when I am feeling better. There is so much to this story. Between my parents and their childlife program here at the hospital, Lulu really viewed transplant more as a vacation than a traumatic event, and she is actually skipping out of the hospital at days end.

I continue to get better and stronger and am weaning myself off the pain meds quickly since they make me very nauseous and a little loopy.

The best news of all is that Gavin will be coming home today with us. It will be a time of new cares and new adjustments, but he is doing just famously…we couldn’t be prouder of our little man!

May the snow flurries melt before they hit your driveway!

Jill

Jill was discharged from the hospital on Wednesday (1/10) and will now be continuing her recovery from a nearby hotel and then eventually home. She can never be too far away from her kiddos. Lauren is now keeping her spirits up by skipping, jumping, and making beautiful projects. Lauren has been a trooper and has not wanted to be too far away from the family. She’s been staying at a nearby hotel with her Grandma and Grandpa for the past week. She has visited the hospital everyday and has done very well between the hospital world and the hotel. The hotel has a pool so she loves that.

It has taken a team of specialized doctors, lots of favors, donations, prayers, and support to raise our family, and we appreciate all the messages, prayers, support and willingness to help just to get to transplant. It means a lot to Jill and me to have such a great support system and to know that literally hundreds of people are a phone call away to help.

Gavin’s kidney is still working great, and the doctors continue to watch closely to see his body adjust to his new kidney. I have heard rumblings of discharge from the hospital staff, and I’ve even spoke to one of the discharge administrative staff. So, Gavin may be out of hospital before or around the weekend.

I have been by Gavin’s side the whole time and got to witness a miracle, which has been incredible. He may even turn into a Daddy’s boy by the time he gets home (but I doubt it).

Now I’m focusing my attention from the process of kidney dialysis to all that is involved in preserving the normal function of his new kidney. This includes knowing the information on all his blood labs and his new medications. The anti rejection medications play a huge part in keeping his new kidney safe.

I’m trying to get everything lined up (insurance, pharmacy, home nutrition, coordinating information from the transplant team, and keeping watch on his blood labs) so when they tell me we can go home – we will be ready (which may not be too far away :).

Thanks again for everything.

Jay Winslow

Here are some great pictures of Gavin taken by Jill and Gavin’s big cousin Julie Schwalbach Elliott. Julie is a registered nurse and flew in from North Carolina to stay with Gavin the day of transplant and for several days of his recovery. Thanks for the pictures Julie, and for being such an angel to our special baby and his family when they needed you most.

If you want to see a larger slideshow of these pictures, you can click on this link.

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It’s now day three post surgery and Gavin remains to be doing remarkably well. His doctor told me “he is not doing anything that they were not expecting him to do.” which is great news.

Here’s a recap of all the events of transplant day and beyond up to this point:

On transplant day (Thursday, January 3rd), Gavin got out of surgery around 1:30pm and stayed sedated (by the doctors) until the following morning. His kidney function was normal by 5:00 p.m. that same day, which was amazing and what I noted in my last update.

The next day (Friday, January 4th), he had his breathing tube removed in the morning. In the afternoon, Gavin headed back to surgery because his central line came out. It was only a 15 minute procedure, but it required sedation. It was unfortunate that he needed additional surgery, but I knew he needed the central line. I was just so happy his kidney function was working normally and that helped me handle the news of additional surgery.

On Saturday, January 5th, Gavin was able to drink. He was still tired but in good spirits. His kidney continued to adjust to what his body needed versus what Jill’s body needed. This includes the amounts of pain medications and other medications which have been adjusted as well.

On Sunday, January 6th (just three days post-transplant), Gavin was given the clearance to eat solid foods. Pre-transplant, he didn’t eat very much solid food at all. We were all excited to see how much (if any) he could eat.

With his brand new kidney, Gavin was able to eat three meals, eat lots of different foods, and spent more than an hour at each meal eating!!! It was and still is incredible.

Gavs is in good spirits and is recovering well. If all goes well, he will probably be out of the PICU in a day or two and out of the hospital in 7 to 10 days.

Jill’s recovery has been slow, but progressing everyday. She was able to visit Gavin and his good news continues to help her recovery process.

Thank you for all your continued prayers and well wishes.

Jay Winslow

Just received this email from Sally, Jill’s sister and Gavy’s aunt and Godmother, about Jill and Gavy’s progress….

Just wanted to give an update to everyone. Both Jill and Gavin are doing really well! Yesterday was the first time that Jill got to hold Gavin which was amazing! Both are recovering and working on building strength! Gavin even ate some food yesterday, just another great sign!

Thanks to everyone for their continued prayers and well wishes.
Sally

Here are the newest photos of Gavy with his brand new kidney!

If you viewing this message in email and cannot view the pictures, please click here.

Gavin did great throughout the night. His kidney functions are now normal for the first time in his life. His BUN (blood urea nitrogen) level has amazingly dropped from 77 yesterday (before surgery) to 4 today. His creatinine level has dropped from 2.8 to 0.2. The surgeon said the transplant went perfectly.

Jill continues the road to recovery and has been able to walk a few times. As you can imagine, Gavin’s good news really helps with her recovery.

It has gone amazingly smooth so far and I couldn’t have envisioned it going any better. It has been good news on top of good news, and all of Gavin’s doctors and nurses have been wonderful.

Gavin now needs his body to adjust to a new working kidney. But right now, I couldn’t be happier about how things have gone to this point. Thanks for all the support throughout our journey.

Jay Winslow

I just received a phone call from Jill’s mom and Gavin’s grandmother, Jane Schwalbach, as well as Jay that both Jill and Gavy are out of surgery and all doctors are very pleased with their progress!!

The doctors had to remove part of Jill’s 12th rib and she had a little extra bleeding, but they were able to stop it quickly. When Gavin’s surgeon came into Jill’s room, Jill was lucid enough to ask for her glasses and ask how her baby was doing. All good news!

Gavin’s surgeons, as well, are very pleased with how Gavin is responding. They have now taken him to x-ray to make sure his central line is in place correctly. Gavin’s surgeons are very happy with his progress.

Thank you for all of your prayers and well wishes. We can’t tell you how much we appreciate your support. Please continue to pray for them as they recover.

We will update you with any other details as they come to us.

God is good! Believe in miracles, they happen every day.

Kristin Carpenter, proud cousin and webmaster of savebabygavin.com

We have just received confirmation from Gavin’s grandmother, Jane Schwalbach, that the surgeries for both Jill and Gavin are a definite “go” for very early tomorrow morning. Gavin will need a blood transfusion during his transplant surgery. With God’s grace, both surgeries should be complete by early afternoon tomorrow.

Thank you to all who have already posted notes of encouragement, prayer, and well wishes for Jill’s and Gavin’s upcoming surgeries. It means so much to Jill and Jay to have such support from those who have been touched by Gavin in some way.

If you have not done so, we encourage you to send your love electronically through Gavin’s website. Please post your messages to Gavin’s Guestbook, or you may also send personal email or electronic card links via the “Contact Us” page of Gav’s website. All of those cards and messages will get to Jill and Jay personally.

On the advice of all doctors involved in this process, Jill and Jay cannot allow any visitation (other than very immediate family) at the hospital or their home for a minimum of 6 weeks.

Also, no plants or flowers can be sent to either Jill or Gavin because of Gavin’s immunocompromised condition. For those of you who wish to do something special, please consider donating to a children’s charity in Gavin’s name. Some special charities, chosen by Jill, are listed on the “Donate Now” page on Gav’s site.

Thank you so much for all the love you’ve shown to Gavy, Jill, and all the Winslow and Schwalbach families. We will post updates on Jill and Gavy’s progress on the site as quickly as we can to keep everyone informed. We ask for your prayers and support and to keep walking with us on Gavy’s incredible journey.

It’s time for miracles. May God and the angels watch over our special angels. And as Jill would say, “May your prayers be heard and may you cherish all that you have! ”.

Kristin Carpenter - Proud cousin and webmaster of savebabygavin.com

It looks like all of Gav’s labs are somewhat better, his blood count is still low, so they will have to give him a transfusion in the operating room during the transplant.

Transplant is a go at this time. We will be preparing today, as we are at the hospital, and have a million “ologists” to meet with.

Please say a prayer that tomorrow Gavin wakes up and accepts this kidney and for the first time in his life, feels good…

Thanks to all.

Jill

Now I know where the script from National Lampoons vacation came from…ahh, Christmas has come and gone and it was beautiful and wonderful and it’s hard to find the kids in the midst of all the new toys that they have gotten. Things have slowed down to a tiresome pace since we moved to the third of January. We are back in lock down mode so we have had a pretty low key Christmas. All Winslows 24-7 has led to some interesting altercations between Lulu and Gavs.

Our last outing was Lauren’s Christmas concert to see her on stage with her little classmates. I think she may have only learned three words to each song, but she loved being up there. And really, is there anything cuter than three rows of Rudolph hats looking back at you?! Santa came after their show, and her eyes got as big as Reese’s peanut butter cups with delight. On our way home, I told her that I couldn’t believe Santa had made such a trip so close to Christmas, and that they must have a great class. She then assured me not to worry, Santa is not so busy, it’s the elves that are working like crazy. Apparently, she has decided that Santa is more in the PR, delivery management sector, which allows his appropriate face time with children immediately prior to his visit. He is in essence “the man” in a big red suit. Her favorite gift was her number one request, her harp (like every other four yr old out there, she too had a harp on her list—-who asks for that, only Lulu!)

We have put Gav on a rigorous exercise program prior to transplant. He is into sit ups (rotate arms on back of head back and forth and move Buddha belly side to side) and Hi-ya kicks…it’s all so very official. We are thinking of putting a sweat band on him and making a toddler exercise video…look out Baby Einstein. His hair is actually beginning to become too long for his mohawk which has put me at a crossroads. I do enjoy his mohawk (probably more than I should) but I would hate to cut his hair…which puts him at where he is now, a bad baby comb over…but I think that we are going to bear through it and let it grow out (Jay does not agree with this) and see if he gets his curls like his sister…I figure if I let him have a mohawk now, and then long hair, he can do little to shock me in the future (I’m going to regret that)…

Jay and I are recovering from the 46 sugar cookies that we ate over Christmas (and when I say 46 I really mean 117.75) and are just trying to make it through each day…we did take Gavin in today and his labs have been the worst that his have ever been. We have made the appropriate changes, and hopefully we will see the results that we need on Jan 2nd to proceed with his transplant. They do believe that it is possible to get everything in place, just more dialysis and shots and food changes…but on the upside, his liver enzymes were good, so we just need to boost his hemoglobin quick, especially to avoid a transfusion which will complicate things. Well, I better get to my gift from Santa this year, five empty photo albums for about three years of photos backed up onto Shutterfly, that I still have yet to order… the curse of the digital camera…

Jill

So we have been playing roulette with Gav’s transplant dates… We went from Dec 28th, to Jan 17th, to Jan 31st to Feb 21 and now, we are finally set on January 3, 2008. We had to make some more adjustments, apparently there was a misunderstanding, and we will still be doing an open nephrectomy so we were juggling surgeons schedules (imagine trying to coordinate two operating rooms, three surgeons and two specialists).

I have been having some anxiety with transplant since now I have seen my organs in 3D (which all the medical people think is so cool, but is freaky when you see your organs rotating on screen, “as if they cut me and I was looking up through my feet”) and they told me that I most likely will be losing a rib on my right side (very Hollywood). More anxiety piled on top of that when they showed me that Gav will have an incision all the way vertically down his chest – so there’s been some sleepless nights.

I can’t believe that we have to do all of this to make him healthy. It just seems so bizarre because when I see him, I don’t think of how sick he really is. I see this little bubbly, cuddly, happy baby. I feel like everyone must be crazy (but as usual, everyone is sane, I’m just crazy). It was the first time that I ever started crying in a doctor’s office since he was in the NICU, when all the transplant information came at me like someone was throwing tomatoes at me. It just has to happen this time, I just can’t take another bump, I just want him to feel good, if we have to do this, then let’s do it!

Gav has been trying so hard to stand. He has gotten himself into a pike position but can’t quite balance that belly to stand up independently (he can stand by pushing off of objects or people). I love that he is in the stage where any kind of “Boo Boo” can be fixed with Mama’s kiss. He would crawl through the whole room for a kiss on his “Boo Boo” and then instantly, he is okay. That and Beyonce’ he loves that perfume commercial (but who doesn’t love a little Beyonce’ in their lives?) He is obsessed with helping me with the laundry and is fascinated when he sees the water pour in, one of these days he might tip himself right in there. He currently has a sinus infection and may have renal rickets (a bone disease that should remedy itself post transplant) and has been complaining about wrist pain. Every time that he sees Santa he says “Ho, Ho”. (I’ve tried to get him to the ho, ho, ho – but he won’t do the third, perfectionism I know on my part, but it’s just not the same without the third). Christmas has brought back the word “mine” to his vocab and he has to make sure that Lauren knows what is his…it’s great because he has an awesome new pouty face that I like to watch when he has to share.

Lauren on the other hand is having some restless nights “because I can’t get Christmas out of my head” (insert two hands on head and her trying to shake it out). We went to get her hair cut before transplant because Jay can manage a pony tail, but that’s where it ends so we wanted to make it simple for everyone. It was her first haircut ever and the hairdresser treated her like a princess (now we have many requests for a little pamperin’ at the salon). Most mom’s have first hair cut bags with little wisps, I have a baggie with like a five inch strand of curly hair.

She has been wonderful through Gav’s vomiting (it’s been heavy and frequent again unfortunately), one night when he started at 2:30 a.m. she stood straight up in bed (of course she had snuck in by us), threw her hands out and told Jay and I not to worry, “I’m a professional” and went to go get us towels and help out. I can tell that she is getting hip to all this medical stuff now. She needs things “stat” and any question that Jay and I can’t answer she tells us “to call the Dr. on call”.

Thank you all for all of your prayers, we will need them once again on the 3rd. We feel so blessed to have yet another Christmas all together and know how lucky we are. Thank you for your support, 2008 is going to be yet another miracle for our family, may you find yours as well!

Happy Holiday hugs from the Winslows

So I asked the kids what there favorite things were and this is what Lauren came up with (she also took the liberty to add in for Gavin).

“2007 My Favorite things” (Mini-Winslow style)

School buses without seatbelts and wet noses on puppies
Bright colored markers and warm bubbly tubbies
Rainbow paper packages tied up with bows
These are a few of my favorite things

Grammy’s brown pony and hard boiled eggs
Baseballs and footballs and butter with noodles
Sleds that fly with the moon on their rings
These are a few of my favorite things

Girls in posh dresses with fancy fuzzy sashes
Snowflakes I catch on my tongue and eyelashes
Snowy white snowmen that melt in Spring
These are a few of my favorite things

When the marker dries up
When it’s too cold for recess
When I’m feeling yucky bo bucky
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad

Jill