HSP

Friday night Macy started complaining about her legs hurting. We thought it was growing pains and gave her some calcium and milk and sent her to bed. Throughout the day Saturday it became harder and harder for her to walk, and she was complaining more about the pain. In the afternoon I had her lay down and pull her pant-legs up so I could look at her legs. I noticed a weird looking bruise on the back of one of her knees. I decided I should probably take her to the InstaCare down the street.


The diagnosis is Henoch-Schonlein Purpura. The small red dots and the bruise-like marks are a sure sign. This condition causes the blood vessels in your skin to become inflamed, which then causes them to bleed, which results in the rash called purpura. It can also affect the blood vessels in the bowel and the kidneys, which can also make them bleed.

So far she doesn't have any blood in her urine and the blood sample they took looks good. But we are postponing her trip to Minnesota until it goes away. We don't know if it will get worse before it gets better. I have a friend whose son had this illness last winter, and she says it was very rough. She sent me some pictures of his legs that were astonishing.

This morning Macy had bruises on the backs of both of her knees.

So, it looks worse today than it did yesterday, but Macy was definitely walking better today and she said it felt better. The information we have says that usually HSP gets better on its own and doesn't cause any lasting problems. However, a few people will have kidney damage because of it, so we definitely hope that won't happen. There is no specific treatment for HSP and they're not really sure what causes it. There are a lot of things that may cause it, but the doctor we saw thinks that Macy's is because of her immune system not doing a good job of fighting off the virus that we've all had this week.

We hope that Macy gets better soon, but this is such an ambiguous thing that there's really no way to know. We'll keep you posted. Any information that anyone has about HSP would be welcome.

October Occupations...

We almost look like the anti-thesis of the Addams Family in this picture. (Can you see Kaleb in his black costume against the black backdrop? Just barely...) We had lots of fun at the city Halloween Festival on Oct. 17th. Below are pictures from the costume contest.

MJ, The Corpse Bride & Her Victim (I mean, Victor!), and Aurora

Screaming Poodle (love this pic! hee hee!)

Kaleb is the scary Phantom w/ glowy eyes

Mini Corpse Bride, Fairy Elise, and Death the Graduate (?huh?)

Isaak the Knight and Macy the Punk Rocker

Our recital was on Oct. 23rd. We put Elise's hair in curlers and it was so springy curly and cute. Elise played "Somewhere Out There", and Macy played "Part of Your World". It was a pop music theme - all the students played something from a movie, and we all dressed up.

The girls and I got to see the Utah Symphony's Halloween Hijinks concert. A few of my students went as well. It was tons of fun and I hope we can go again next year!

Trick or Treating with Dad at the home of The Great Pumpkin. Mom and Tessa stayed home cause Mom was sick.

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

At Gma & Gpa's house, Trick or Treating. Don't know why they're not smiling. :)

Also, Kaleb finally got his Bear award at Pack Meeting this month. He earned it before his birthday, but there have been changes going on in scouts and it's been hectic. I've been put in as a Webelos leader, so I get to help with Kaleb's den meetings now. He really enjoys scouting.

And, oh yes, Macy lost her first tooth this month - around the beginning of the month. She was so excited that the tooth fairy brought her "One dollar and ten cents." (Elise counted it. It was really one dollar.) However, apparently Elise also spilled the beans to Macy and Isaak that Dad is really the tooth fairy. Oh well.

Family Rock Band Night

On September 25th we decided to have a family RockBand night. I thought it would be fun to have everyone dress up as rock stars, so before dinner I got everyone all rocked out. The kids had a blast. We all took turns playing different parts, even baby Tessa! Thank you, Uncle Nick for letting us borrow your extra guitar, and thank you, Uncle Brandon for giving us your RockBand set!

Tessa Turns One!!!

My goodness, how quickly the time passes. As you watch this slideshow you will catch a small glimse of the beautiful, sweet and sometimes sassy personality of this precious little girl. We love her very much and we're so glad that she is a part of our family! Happy Birthday, Tessa Marie!

Wordless Wednesday

School Days

My camera was broken last week when Kaleb and Elise started school. But I got a new one, so here are the first pictures of the school year! Macy and Isaak started Kindergarten yesterday. These are pics of their first day.

Isaak on the Kindergarten playground

Macy on the playground

Macy waiting in line. The girl in the green shirt is a friend from Macy's tumbling class.

Isaak waiting in line

Isaak's teacher

Macy's teacher

They both had fun during their first two days of Kindergarten. We're looking forward to an exciting year. I'm looking forward to having a couple of hours of "break time" during the mornings. Now if I could only pass that memo along to Tessa... she wanted lots of attention this morning while everyone else was gone! It will be a nice break, though. Kaleb and Elise also really like their teachers. It's fun to be able to go to a brand new school.

Monday August 10th

Take me out to the ballgame...

Rob's company party was at the Bees' game. They're Utah's AAA baseball team.

We don't think the kids' have been to a game, except for Macy, who went to the Twins' game when she was a baby.

I like watching live baseball, (not on TV), but otherwise neither of us watch sports.

Isn't that the cutest picture? Little babes, walking with Daddy. Should have put some shoes on her though. Oh well.

I put both of these pics because the different facial expressions and combination of kids you can see is funny. I especially love the ketchup all over Isaak's face.

Say "Hot Dog!"

Mmmm.... Hot Dogs...

We left at 9:00, which I think was the top of the 6th inning. The girls' kept asking, "When do we get to sing The Song?" So, they were a little disappointed that we didn't get to do that. But it was 10:00 by the time we got home, so I guess singing it in the car on the way there was good enough. It was a fun time - thank you Qqest!