ELL and the POLP on Facebook group

As most of you know, I tend to be very libertarian when it comes to discussion. I tried for a long time to run this group that way - I played the role of gatekeeper when it came to admitting members, but stayed very hands-off when it came to posts and comments. I had to change that recently in order to clamp down on a few discussions where emotions were starting to get out of hand, but I still tried to stay neutral when it came to discussion topics, in the belief that all discussion was good discussion.

Outside of the POLP group, I still feel that way. Stay away from personal judgements, and I will discuss virtually anything with you without taking offense. Religion, politics, etc - I enjoy a good discussion, even if I disagree with nearly everything you believe. Stay respectful and no topic is off limits.

Because of this, I’ve had a hard time dealing with the ELL topic on this group. In my personal life, I have no use for the subject. I’m quite proud of who my daughter is, and I’m extremely blessed by the friendships we’ve made through the LPA since Caitlin’s diagnosis. Since ELL does not solve any of the medical complications of her dwarfism, my wife and I see no reason for her to go through years of surgery. Still, because I believe all discussion is legitimate, I haven’t censored any conversations that involve ELL.

Unfortunately, every time the topic comes up, things get ugly. It doesn’t matter what I delete or how I threaten, it gets ugly. And honestly, the first ones doing the attacking have been friends of mine, and are generally adult LPs themselves. And some of them, some individuals whose opinions I deeply respect, have felt personally targeted by the responses. I’ve been trying to reconcile my opinions with the feelings of my friends and it hasn’t been making any sense.

But tonight my wife and I were talking about it, and something clicked. Let’s say that this was a group for parents of black kids. And let’s say that some of the parents were black, but more of them were white. And since sometimes it kinda sucks to be black in America, a few of the white parents have decided to find ways to make their kids look less black. They lighten their skin, and straighten their hair. It doesn’t make them NOT black, but it helps them fit in a little better. Nobody crosses the street to get away from them. Nobody keeps a close eye on them as they browse the convenience store. If they accidentally lock their keys in the car (or in the house), nobody assumes they’re trying to break in when they try to get back in.

This makes their life easier. And since it makes them happier, they like to share it with others. They share progress pictures with the skin lightening. They share before and after pictures, so you can see how much whiter they look. All their friends post words of encouragement. “You look fantastic! You're so brave!” “You’re almost as white as your dad, now!” “We are in awe of how far you've come!”

If you’re black, how would that make you feel?



Sound extreme? If you think so, I’m gonna guess that you’re probably average height. That’s not a judgement on you, at all. I’m a pretty open minded guy, and I didn’t see it this way either until tonight. But does it really surprise you that many of the adult LPs in the group feel the way they do about this topic? What those folks are posting about, what they’re encouraging, what they’re so happy about - it’s about eliminating the outward appearance of dwarfism. It’s not solving any of the medical issues created by dwarfism, it’s about undergoing a cosmetic procedure that stretches the shortened bones to gain height, and nothing else. Sure, it’s easier to reach things. But it’s also easy to put them on a lower shelf. I’ve seen homes completely remodeled to accomodate short stature, of course. But that extreme of a step isn’t necessary - plenty of folks shorter than 4’ tall do just fine in an average height world with minimal changes, thank you very much. I’ve seen it myself.

I’m not judging the folks who chose to undergo ELL. I’m friends with one of the average height parents who posts here regularly. Heck, she donated to my LPA fundraising campaign. But I do understand now why this topic causes so much division every time it comes up, and that’s brought me to a decision. As much as I hate censoring topics of any kind, ELL needs to go the way of politics and religion and stay on personal pages.

Wordless Wednesday

So, last weekend was Caitlin's third birthday party! Yes, I know, a lot has happened since my last post, but if I get into all that here I'll never get this post done, and I'll never get back into the habit of blogging again. A bit extreme? Perhaps, but probably true anyway :-)

Anyway, our little Caitlin pulled herself right past her third birthday - she's even replaced her cute little habit of holding up two fingers and stating "I'm Two!" with holding up three(-ish) fingers and saying "I'm free now! We had a big shindig in our new backyard, complete with bounce house, Cinderella cake, and takeout from Vallarta. Lots of her friends came - neighbors, friends from Early Start and Town & Country Farm School, local LP friends the Thompsons and Caitlin's favorite babysitter Ariel & family, and POLP friends the Cortez's from Oxnard, the Dinos from Arcadia, and the Moskovic/Erenea family all the way from San Diego!

It really was a blast to see everybody - our life has been so busy lately that we've really missed spending time with friends, and since we missed the national conference this year we've really missed our LPA family. We're working on plans for the D12 fall regional conference, though - we're really looking forward to seeing everybody there!

I tried to upload like 16 pictures for this post from Picasa, but i obviously haven't figured out how to do that correctly yet. Still, though, here are some pictures of Caitlin over the last three years - she's changed so much!!

Stay tuned - I don't have many pictures from this weekend (too busy doing the party, and not enough taking pics!) but I'll post a few tomorrow that pare' Stuart took from Sunday morning with Caitlin and Justin goofing around. See you then!

 

 

 

 

Caitlin's MRI Followup (Finally, a post!)

Yesterday we made the trek back into LA to go visit everybody's favorite Neurologist, Dr. Moise Danielpour with Cedars Sinai. It was kind of a long drive since we forgot to put the DVD player back in the car for Caitlin, but thanks to grandma in the back seat (who tagged along to help) we managed to survive the trip. West LA traffic sucked as always, of course, so we were barely pulling into the parking structure at 2:30, which was when our appointment was supposed to start. This timing turned out to be fortuitous, though, as another family with a two year old achon boy showed up just a few minutes after we did - a family who knew nothing about the LPA and had never seen another little person before! They were from the LA area as well, so Cherylle immediately stepped in and acted in her role as parent coordinator for the LA Chapter and introduced us and Caitlin. They were very excited to see Caitlin running around the waiting room, and seemed relieved to see how well she was doing. Cherylle gave them our info - hopefully they'll be back in touch with us soon!

Anyway, we got in fairly quickly to see Dr. Danielpour. His nurse did a great job "measuring" mommy and daddy's heads first so she could get Caitlin to put up with her head being measured - and there's no change, which is good. She's growing, but her head isn't at the moment. On the other hand, Dr. Danielpour was a bit concerned still with the fact that her fontanelle was still wide open, the fact that her forehead bossing is as pronounced as it is, and that she has prominent veins in her forehead. He told us that her MRI scans showed basically exactly what he was expecting given her characteristics - at full flexion her spinal fluid was completely blocked from flowing, and at full extension there were no problems at all. This also made sense when you combine it with the results of her previous sleep study, which showed more apnea episodes when she was sleeping on her back, which pushed her chin forward onto her chest, than on her stomach, which allowed her to turn her head to one side and prop it up.

Basically, the upshot is that we need to do another sleep study on Caitlin to verify whether or not she is having problems with central sleep apnea, then come back and talk to Dr. Danielpour again about the possibility of decompression surgery. If she doesn't have any central apnea problems, then we probably won't need to worry about it - but if she does, then decompression will probably be necessary. Of course, with all our insurance changes over the summer (me being off for the summer, and Cherylle getting a new job) getting the sleep study scheduled might be a big challenge - but we'll do what we can to get something on the books! Our schedule is complicated further by the NY conference - we leave Saturday and don't come back until the 15th! As if there wasn't enough going on, right?

On that topic - we're excited to see many of you in NY - and for those who can't make it, we'll see you on Facebook!

Cedars Sinai!

So Caitlin had her first appointment with Cedars Sinai! It took a while to get my insurance straightened out, and then to get the referral to Cedars since the local pediatrician I chose doesn't usually refer to Cedars for genetics cases. Fortunately Dr. Arora took it on herself to hand-hold the referral through their referral company and made sure we got authorized to see Dr. Rimoin who is the top geneticist there, and the biggest dwarfism specialist on the west coast.

Cedars did a really great job of getting us in quickly. I'd mentioned when I faxed the registration packet over last week that Dr. Krakow (with both Cedars and UCLA) and Dr. Danielpour (the Neuro with Cedars) had both mentioned concerns over the size of Caitlin's fontanelle at the D12 regional and had recommended getting an MRI done as soon as possible. Of course, if you've been reading this blog (or my Facebook updates) very often, you know that getting an MRI through Kaiser and Dr. Tiller has been almost impossible. Of course, as soon as word got to Dr. Tiller that two of his important colleagues thought Caitlin needed an MRI (and should have had one earlier, no less!) he called Cherylle directly and offered to do whatever was necessary to get one going for Caitlin. Uh huh. Too little, too late, buddy. The letter to Kaiser and to the LPA's medical advisory board is already started - I'll post it here when it's done. As parent coordinators, Cherylle and I feel that we have a responsibility to make sure other parents know who is out for your child's interest and who is not!

Anyway, on Thursday I started getting calls from Cedars - first from Tami, the clinic coordinator with the Skeletal Dysplasia Clinic, to get us in to see Dr. Rimoin, and then from Cathy, the genetic counselor, to get a brief medical history for Caitlin and to let me know that SHE'D ALREADY REQUESTED AUTHORIZATION FROM OUR INSURANCE FOR THE MRI. Apparently the word of Drs. Krakow and Danielpour was enough - imagine that?

So today we left home early, dropping Evan off in the cafeteria at Newhall Elementary to eat breakfast there, and headed down to West LA. At the last minute the appointment got moved to the Pediatrics division in a different building, but we found it alright. The fun part was that the intake nurse obviously had little experience with dwarfism, which was an odd way for an appointment with the top dwarfism genetics expert to start - but she did just fine. We had to educate her on a few things, but you all know that that's pretty typical for us :-) After she did the initial vital stats, a Dr. Mencias came in to see us. She was an intern with the genetics department, and was also still learning, but obviously knew a lot more already. She was really nice, and did a great job of trying to make Caitlin okay with the fact that she was being examined - which thanks to all the doctor appointments she's been through lately she's having a hard time with.

Dr. Mencias asked a lot of the typical questions, complete with a quick family genetic history. It always amuses me to have geneticists ask if there is any history of dwarfism in the family, since achondroplasia is autosomal dominant and there is no recessive gene, but I guess it makes sense - they're always looking for the exception to the rule. That's how you learn, right? She did a fantastic job with Caitlin, though, and Caitlin was actually relatively calm with her until she needed specific measurements. Cherylle and I had to both hold her still for the head circumference, and Cherylle ended up laying down with her on the exam table to help keep her calm. It didn't really keep her calm, but it kept her still enough to get the measurements.

Dr. Krakow works full time at UCLA now, although she consults with Cedars, but because she'd seen Caitlin at the regional she decided to drive over to see us and join in with Dr. Rimoin on the consult. She asked us if turning Caitlin back around (rear facing) in the car had helped with her nausea problems on drives, which it had, thanks to her advice. She told Dr. Rimoin about what she and Dr. Danielpour had seen at the regional with Caitlin's fontanelle, and he concurred. He was a bit mystified as to why Dr. Tiller had been so reluctant to approve an MRI - we explained that Dr. Tiller had thought the anesthesia was risky, but Dr. Rimoin seemed to think that death from something that could have been detected by an MRI was riskier. Strange - that's what we thought, too - and what we had told Dr. Tiller. Hmmm - that's another blog post.

Anyway, Drs. Mencias, Krakow, and Rimoin all thought Caitlin was in great shape overall, except for the problem with her fontanelle. She's not showing any problematic symptoms - no clonus, no muscle tone problems, no bulging soft spot or forehead veins - but they all still felt it was something that needed to be followed up on asap. They also felt that her increased snoring combined with her minor apnea problems on her last sleep study warranted ordering another one. They also wanted us to have her seen by their ENT, and after the results of all of the above were in, Caitlin will get a followup appointment with Dr. Danielpour to see what, if anything, needs to be done.

Man, just like when we saw Dr. Krakow at the regional - it was so nice to see doctors who say what we think before we say it! It's almost like we've all been reading the same thing - like the Health Supervision for Children with Achondroplasia! You'd think the American Academy of Pediatrics knew what they were talking about, or something!

Well, we'll see how it continues to go - there are quite a few authorizations to get through. I'll keep you updated!

Here are some pics from our recent adventures -

Here's Caitin waiting for the doctors - already worn out from fighting the nurse.

Here she is coloring at lunch across the street after the appointment was over.

Here's Evan getting ready to ride the motorcycle with daddy for the first time this weekend! Woot!

Here's Caitlin looking ridiculously cute in pigtails on her way into daycare on Thursday :-)

Here are the kids with my parents on Sunday - we met up with them halfway between both homes, which fortunately happens to be in Santa Barbara. Beautiful!

Finally, here's a shot of Caitlin on her first night in a big girl bed - it's Tink, of course! The most beautiful fairy of all...

See y'all next time!

Our first event as Parent Coordinators!

This past weekend was the first event we organized as parent coordinators for the LA Chapter of the LPA - a parent BBQ potluck at the Dino residence in Arcadia. We had around 30 people in attendance, including the kids! Everybody had a really great time. The weather was absolutely perfect - nice and sunny, plenty warm, but with a cool breeze and plenty of shade to hang out in. There were more than enough hot dogs and hamburgers to go around, with homemade pasta salad and mac 'n cheese for the kids. Chips, cookies and lots of drinks rounded out the menu. Oh, and I can't forget Joe's fantastic homemade clam chowder!

We had families from all over the Los Angeles area, and Alex and Jeff Bray, with Sam and little Anais, drove all the way from Las Vegas to join us! The kids had a blast playing on the slide, with the balls, and in a large pirate ship playhouse in the Dinos' huge backyard, although at some point the boys all ended up indoors reassembling cars and watching Spongebob :-) Near the end of the day, the chapter president was able to join us after representing LPs from around the world at the Santa Monica Public Library's Living Library experiment!

Many thanks to everyone who showed up, but especially to Joe and Sandra Dino for hosting, and to Joe's parents for opening their backyard to us! The location was so perfect that we're working on a backyard campout at their home in June!

Caitlin's walking!!

Those of you on Facebook already know this, but Caitlin's finally taken that big leap into walking! She worked her way into it slowly, taking a few steps at a time at parent group and at home, but finally really exploded over last weekend. It was a perfect time to start, since last Saturday was a meeting for the LA Chapter of the LPA at Miceli's in Universal City, and she was able to show off for everyone! It's been loads of fun at parent group, too, since everyone there has been watching her grow up for a year and has been anticipating her walking almost as much as we have. When she walked on her own to hang her picture on the bulletin board during circle time you could hear a pin drop in the room! I've attached a few pics for fun, as well as a little bitty video of her walking so you can see the proof - enjoy!

Find more videos like this on Little People of America - Los Angeles Chapter

It's about time!

Yeah, I know - I was looking at Catie's blog today and I'm now officially 5 weeks out from my last blog post. Of course, if you read the last one, I warned you that it would be a while! Things have been crazy around our house for the last month or so, particularly with my job. Not in a bad way, thankfully - CalArts has no intent to lay anyone off at all. Their biggest concession to the bad economy right now was to raise tuition slightly and freeze all new positions. However, the majority of our shows happen during the second semester, and this year there are twice as many this semester as last. This means that we've ended up working on three shows back to back to back! By the time I get home, I barely have the brain power left to read blogs, let alone to write them... I was actually way behind for a while - I just barely got caught back up in the last few days.

Anyway, on to recent happenings. This also explains the long break in blogs, since there hasn't been much to write about other than work, TV and sleep. We have discovered two new shows - well, new to us, anyway. Both had been on for at least a year, but since everything we watch is on DVR it's hard to find new stuff! Leverage and Burn Notice (TNT and USA, respectively) are both really interesting shows, and have the added quirk of sharing guest stars in similar yet different roles at nearly the same time. Fun, fun shows!

So last weekend was my first weekend off in over a month. We took advantage of the opportunity to run down to San Diego for the weekend! We were looking to hit multiple targets at the same time. We wanted to spend some time with our friends Ellen & Stuart who we hadn't had a chance to connect with since their son's 3rd birthday last year, especially since we had a few things to talk to them about; we wanted to go the San Diego chapter's movie night (conveniently at Ellen & Stuart's house); and we wanted to hit Legoland on the way home before our season passes expire in April.

We packed up and headed out Friday afternoon as soon as I could get out of the office, which wasn't as early as I'd hoped which put us on the freeway through downtown LA right in the middle of rush hour traffic. It ended up taking us nearly 4.5 hours to make the trip that usually takes us 2.5 hours, and Caitlin culminated the trip by falling asleep in the car, leaning back so her post-nasal drip drained back into her throat, and throwing up all over herself in Carlsbad. We finally made it there, got settled in, and let the kids play even though they were already up way too late! Eventually they wore out and we put the kids to bed so the grownups could talk.

We've known Ellen and Stuart for a year now, and have discovered that we have way more in common than is typical for random couples. Some of it is right on the surface - we're both mixed race couples with a Filipina wife and Caucasian husband; we're both mixed faith couples, since Cherylle and Ellen both come from a Catholic background, and while Adventism and Judaism have some surface differences, they are more alike than you'd think. Politically, personality, emotionally, it's almost creepy how alike we are! The gist of this that we want to make sure Caitlin has someone to talk to when she's not willing to talk to her parents, but we want that someone to be somebody we know and trust, and will give her advice we agree with. Particularly since Ellen is an LP as well, she can advise her on things that we as average height parents may never understand, such as sexuality and intimacy, personal hygiene, relationships, dealing with the idiots in the outside world, etc. Essentially we asked them to be godparents to Caitlin. We'd like to make that official, if Cherylle's parents church will allow it, although they may not since Stuart is not Catholic any more than I am. Even if they don't, however, we want them to be unofficial godparents/mentors to her as she grows up, and think they will be really great for her. Plus, it gives us another good excuse to go over and tear up another bottle of Corralejo Reposado - that was way too much fun!

Saturday we laid around the house while Ellen cooked a filipino breakfast with garlic fried rice (my favorite!), then finally left for Seaport Village on the coast. The day was fantastic - the weather was beautiful, the traffic light, and there was a vendor making balloon sculptures for cheap! We had a great lunch at an ocean front cafe, and wandered around browsing the shops for a while having a blast. Ellen and Stuart had to leave early for a chapter board meeting, so we killed a bit of time by letting Caitlin wander while Evan got balloon sculptures and a henna tattoo. We stopped by the grocery store on the way back to pick up some soda and ice for the movie night. The group for movie night was small and intimate, but it was fun! We got to visit with another couple, Lisa and Eric, a mixed LP/AH couple, while the kids got to play with their 10 year old daughter Kiah. She was adorable, which meant that it wasn't too surprising when we learned that she'd actually been a model as a toddler!

Sunday morning, Ellen called around and got a recommendation for a great breakfast joint up in Solano Beach called the Hideaway Cafe. Despite the distance, they decided to drive all the way up and have breakfast with us, which was really great since the kids ended up being able to play some more in a little park across the street from the cafe, and Stuart got some really great shots!

After eating, we said our goodbys and headed our separate ways. We got to Legoland around noon which gave us 5 hours to play there, which was plenty of time for Evan to hit all his favorite rides and still get to wander Mini City for a while.

The ride home had slightly less traffic - it took us 3.5 hours instead of 4.5 hours, although 2.5 would have been great! Sadly, this time Evan started throwing up about 30 minutes from home. He stayed home from school the next day, but he was fine the entire day, so it looks like it was just motion sickness brought on by a long day in the sun, riding rides and having fun.

So, long post for a long weekend. Hopefully it won't be this long before the next one, but you never know!

No surgery - yay!!

Enjoy this while you can - I make no guarantees as to how long I can continue updating the blog as frequently as I have been!

Last Friday was our followup appointment with the ENT. We had two primary goals - to discuss the results of the sleep study, and to schedule Caitlin's ear tube surgery, depending on whether or not she'd need to have her tonsils and adenoids removed as well.

We got to Kaiser early, thanks to the fact that we always put the appointment in our calendar about 30 minutes early, then forget what the real time was, so when we get there 15 minutes late we're actually 15 minutes early. We got checked in, they took us back to get Caitlin's vitals, then we sat in the waiting room for 45 minutes. They finally called us back to an exam room, and we sat there another 15 minutes. Finally, Dr. Gross came in and told us that the problem was that they couldn't find the results from the sleep study! Fortunately, Cherylle had the number to the clinic in her appointment book so they were able to call and get the results faxed over immediately.

Dr. Gross finally came in with the paperwork, but started by doing a quick look in Caitlin's ears again - and lo and behold, one of her ears actually appeared to be clearing up! The antibiotics she took before didn't appear to help, but the heavier ones from her pneumonia actually did. Then she pulled out the sleep study results, and let us know how they went. When she slept on her back or side, which was most of the time, she only had 3 episodes per hour, which is completely under the "normal" limit of 5 per hour. When she slept on the back, which was less often, it went up to 12 per hour, which classified it as "mild" sleep apnea, which was between 5-15 per hour. Her O2 sats did drop, but stayed above 80% and as seldom as it happened, she didn't feel that it was time to be aggressive with surgery. Then, she explained that since one ear looked like it was clearing up, and since Caitlin's hearing tests all showed that she was capable of hearing, and that she was obviously picking up words, it wasn't time to get agressive for that, either; so, no surgery!!

She felt that there was still the possibility for concern in the future, so we're scheduled for another audio test in three months, with a followup ENT appointment in four months. She also wants us to repeat the sleep study again in a year or so, since the tonsils and adenoids can grow faster than her breathing passages can, and there's a possibility that the "mild" problem this year can become worse by next year... So, this tells us again that we're finally working with the right doctor - not one who thinks that surgery is the right thing to do, but one who is willing to do all the testing necessary to know that we're doing everything she needs.

Thanks again to everybody who sent us well wishes while Caitlin had pneumonia - despite the FOUR molars she's cutting right now, she's still doing much better than before! We really feel blessed about that...

Here are some shots we just scanned from last year's national - if Detroit was that much fun, I can only imagine how exciting New York is gonna be! See you guys there!

Tag again? Why do I keep responding to these things? Positive feedback just means they'll continue!

Hehehehehe.... Yeah, after getting tagged 7 times for that freakin' survey on Facebook I just wonder what I'm doing here!

Here are the rules:

1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer. No cheating {cropping, editing, etc.}!

2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.

3. Explain the picture.

4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

Well, I'm not sure how this worked out so perfectly, but this picture is from June 20, 2007, and as you may guess it's Evan holding his little sister Caitlin for the first time. I'm not sure which makes me melt faster - the look of pride and excitement on his face as he holds her, or the way she's staring back up at him while she's only a few hours old. Man, I think I'm gonna go sniffle now!

I'm not positive, but I think these four have not been tagged yet:

Kim, Alex, Sheri and Jane.

BTW - Caitlin's ENT appointment on Friday went EXTREMELY well - details will follow in a day or two...

Later, gators!

In Other News...

Two big things happened yesterday - Caitlin had her followup appointment with her pediatrician thanks to the bad case of pneumonia she had last week, and he gave her a clean bill of health! He told Cherylle that he hadn't gotten too dramatic about it when he'd first looked at her, but at the time the pneumonia was in both lungs and looked really bad - but she's a little fighter, and despite fighting the antibiotics too she's cleared up completely.

Second, Caitlin finally took her first steps! She timed it perfectly so that Cherylle and I were both there to see them, too. We'd just finished parent group, and I was standing near the door talking to another parent while Cherylle was on the floor with Caitlin getting her ready to go. Caitlin, who has been experimenting with standing on her own more and more lately, was standing mostly without Cherylle's help and trying to get my attention, and since that meant she wasn't paying attention to herself, Cherylle backed away and left her standing completely unsupported. I came over and crouched down in front of her and put my hands out just out of reach and called her to come over, and without thinking she took two tiny, shaky steps and grabbed my hands!! That was so exciting to see, although I'm terrified of what it means... She's gonna be getting into even more trouble at home! LOL

Also, now that she's gotten over her pneumonia, she's cutting two huge molars on her bottom jaw that are really bothering her. She was completely miserable last night and didn't sleep well at all, even after getting dosed with Motrin. Hopefully they'll break through quickly and it won't take too long...

Finally, Tuesday was an amazing day in our household. I have two bi-racial kids, and have always been aware that it means they will be treated differently in some settings. Cherylle and I have heard the snide comments (particularly when we still lived in Bakersfield, the dustbowl of California) as long as we've been dating, and we are realistic about what that means for our kids growing up. But when you see a person of mixed race, with an Islamic middle name, and a multinational upbringing, being sworn in as president of the greatest country on earth, it really means something special. I know I have friends, both offline and on, from all sides of the political spectrum, and for many of you the current president was certainly not your first choice. What I hope we all take away from this, no matter what you feel about the current political climate, is the need for all of us to become more involved in the community around us. This country cannot survive if we all sit back and assume that somebody else will take care of things. The idea of a national day of service is a great one, but it needs to go well beyond that. Please, find a way to contribute. If your church has a social outreach program beyond just preaching, please participate. If not, or if you are not a church-goer, please find a community center or program that needs help. Feed the homeless. Donate blood. Donate clothes. Volunteer with a non-profit service agency and help that way. Join the LPA and volunteer with them. There are many parents who don't know that their kids are okay just the way they are - find them and help. Our chapter is working on a food drive for the holidays, since we know several people within our chapter who really need the help. Take ownership of this country and we can really change things for the better!



PS - tomorrow is Caitlin's followup with the ENT so hopefully I'll have more to say then!

Announcements, announcements, announcements!

Well, as much as I blow about updating the blog, I figured I'd do one of those little quick posts like normal people do to keep y'all in the loop. Cherylle and I are now the new parent coordinators for the LA Chapter! We've been wanting to get more involved with our local chapter for quite a while, and this really looks like the perfect opportunity to do so. In addition, I'm putting together a website for the chapter, and we're working on putting together the spring regional for 2010 for District 12! You are welcome to check out the public bits of the site at LPA-LA. There's more, but I've gotta wait for the board to approve it :-)

Also, for those of you not on Facebook, that nasty cough that Caitlin had over Christmas apparently did not actually go away - it just went to hide in her lungs! About a week and a half ago she started coughing bad enough to trigger her gag reflex and her fever started spiking again. We ran her back into the doctor's office, and his x-ray verified that she had pneumonia! Fortunately a big shot of antibiotics in the rear and a maintenance prescription at home was all it took to clear things up, and she's doing much better now...

Finally, we're really looking forward to District 12's spring regional this year - hopefully some good friends of ours with some experience throwing these things will do it, and we will come down to help! *hint, hint* LOL

I'll leave ya with a few pics of Evan and Caitlin playing with cousin Lindsay, who was born less than two weeks before Caitlin.

Buh bye, y'all!