Neurologist Vist & Bake Sale Cake

This past Tuesday we took Addison to her Neurologist for a visit about her "episodes".  Since her MRI and EEG were clear there is still no evidence that these are seizures, although they do still appear to be.  She wants us to keep a log of each episode for the next 2 months so we can look at the frequency of them.  At that point we'll decide on medication or further testing.  She's had a cold this week, so other than the doctor visit we've been laying low.

Last weekend I made a cake for a bake sale to benefit one of the family member's of Erik's co-worker.  Since the bake sale was on a game day, I did a replica of Addison's birthday cake.  I think it came out super cute.  Plus I made 2 dozen cupcakes, in purple and gold cupcake papers of course!  The word was everything sold quickly - I think that's a good sign!  Here's some photos of my work:

Organ Donation - the Gift of Life!

This past Saturday Mom (and her family) was invited to the Annual Gift of Life Picnic that Tulane gives every year for its living organ donors and recipients.

Let me back up a little bit.  To those of you that may not know, my mom donated one of her kidneys to a friend (Mark Austin) this past January.  Mark is married and has a 7 year old little girl.  Kidney disease runs in his family and he has even lost some family members because of it.  When mom heard his story, she knew instantly that she would be the one to donate.  She really felt led by God to do this.  I thought she was NUTS!!  Yeah, I said it.  I mean seriously, let them cut you open and take out part of you for someone you're not even related to?  I'm very protective of my mom.  We've been through a lot together and I didn't want her to do anything that might take her away from me.  Plus, I was thinking what if I need a kidney one day?  Yes, I was being selfish.  And scared!  But I realized she was going to do this no matter what, so we rallied around her and prayed - a lot!!  The surgery was successfull although hard on her.  Mark is doing well now.  He's had a few setbacks, but overall feels so much better than he did and the kidney is doing great.  You can keep up with Mark here:  http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/markaustin. 

Ok - back to the picnic!  It was so nice.  They had lots of food and cake!

They also had inflatables and face paiting for the kids and a costume contest (also for the kids). 

The doctors and nurses from the transplant unit were there to help celebrate.  This is mom and her surgeon Dr. Paramesh:

They had a ceremony to honor the donors.  They gave them each a beautiful painting by a local artist.  They also got to speak and tell about their experiences and how their recipient was doing.

Sometimes the stories were happy, like mom's.  But sometimes they were sad.  One lady had just lost her brother that she had donated a kidney to five years ago.  But, as she said, that is five extra years they got to spend time with him.  What a gift!

After the ceremony they held the costume contest, and would you believe that a certain Princess Tinkerbell Addison won 3rd place!!  And a $25 visa giftcard :)  She IS pretty darn cute....

They also had a raffle where the proceeds benefits other donors and recipients.  Would you believe that my mom won an X-Box?  Everyone said we had the lucky table!  And the announcer did give the disclaimer, that no you don't get an X-Box just for donating a kidney.  But think of what you do give - the gift of life!!  I'm so proud of you mom.  You are a true hero!

Here's some more shots of Tinkerbell with Nana and Paw Paw.

We plan on making this a yearly event for our family.  We hope the Austins can be there next year too!  Want to comment on this post?  Feel free!!  Don't know how?  Scroll down to read the comment tutorial in the previous post.

Comment Tutorial

I've heard from several of you that you love to read my blog and you always want to comment, but you can't figure out how.  I am going to try my best to walk you through it.  Because I love to hear what you all have to say!!

At the end of each post you will see the time that I posted the blog and you will see the number of comments.  It may even be 0.  You can click on the word "comment".

This will then bring you to a new screen with a box that says "post a comment".  You can type your comment in the box.  It can be as long or as short as you like. 

Underneath the box is a dropdown menu that says "comment as" and you must select one.  This is where most people get confused.  You can just click the Name/URL option and then a new box will pop up that you can type your name into (you can leave URL option blank).

Then click continue.  You can also choose the "annonymous" option and just tell me in the body of your comment who you are.  Then you can proceed with posting your comment.  It will make you type a "word verification" which is where it shows you a series of letters/numbers and you have to retype them in the little box.  This is just a security feature. 

Now you can just click the "post comment" button and you're done!  See, that wasn't so bad, right?  Want to comment on this comment tutorial?  Please do!!  :)