Laurel Hill Cemetery

Last week my dad and I went to Laurel Hill Cemetery. We thought we would be taking a "Heroes Killed in Action" tour to commemorate Veteran's Day, but when we got there we found out that we already missed the tour on Sunday! Ooops! We grabbed a map instead and decided to go on our own tour. The fall colors were beautiful. It felt more like we were walking through a historic sculpture garden instead of a cemetery.


It was amazing to see all of the old headstones and sepulchers. The oldest one we saw had a death date of 1786. Many sculptures were so worn that they were barely distinguishable, and much of the writing on headstones was washed away. It made me think about the people burried in the cemetery and the lives they must have lived so long ago. To us they're just a headstone with some writing on it, and the only proof of their existence are the few words written about them. When those words become illegible, the only thing remaining is a piece of smooth rock, essentially.


It sounds depressing, but it got me thinking. I don't want to waste time and money on something extravagant that's only going to be destroyed and forgotten over time. So, when I die, deep-etch my name in some granite and bury me under a big, beautiful tree. :)


Here are some more pictures.

General George Meade, Commander of the Union Army during the Civil War. I was surprised at how modest his family plot was.

3 Days & 2 Nights

On Saturday night Lillian decided that we needed to get out of the house for a few days. So we spent the weekend at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia! She had been running a high fever with an ugly cough for a few days, and with her recent diagnosis of asthma I felt like she needed to be checked out.

Lillian was admitted at 5:00 a.m. on Sunday morning after a chest x-ray showed some signs of pneumonia and/or adalectasis (when small areas of the lungs collapse). She had to be hooked up to oxygen because her levels were a little low. She looked so sad with the little tubes in her nose, but she tolerated it quite well. The thing on her right arm is an IV hook-up that they had to put in and secure tightly so she wouldn't pull it out.

After some early-morning tests, the doctors determined that Lillian had the parainfluenza virus and viral pneumonia, which aggravated her asthma (or maybe the asthma aggravated the virus or they both aggravated each other? either way, she got hit with all 3 at once . . . lucky girl!)


The doctors put her on some medications to help her asthma so that her lungs could combat the pneumonia more effectively, since there's nothing we can do to fight the virus directly. They also performed some chest PT every few hours to help break up the mucus and make Lillian's coughs more productive. Everything is easily treatable at home, but the doctors didn't feel comfortable letting her go because her oxygen levels were still a little low on Sunday. The nurses slowly decreased her oxygen to help ween her off.

On Monday morning they took her off the oxygen and her levels stayed high enough while she was awake. The true test was to see her levels while she slept, when levels naturally decrease. When she fell asleep for her first nap I crossed my fingers. Her levels stayed barely high enough to keep her in the safe zone - yay!! The doctor wanted to monitor her for one more nap before letting her go home. It felt like a long afternoon waiting for Lillian to get tired again! She finally went down at about 2:30 p.m. and again her oxygen stayed high enough. I decided to celebrate by taking a nap myself. :) I knew we would be going home when Lillian woke up.

Bobby had to take a big test Monday afternoon, so I stayed with Lillian on Sunday night. We kept ourselves busy with lots of books, toys, and frequent visits from the nurses and the respiratory staff. We were still napping when Bobby arrived on Monday afternoon and it was a nice surprise to see him when we woke up! Soon after, the nurse came in and told us that she had been checking in on us while we were asleep. Since everything was ok, the doctor had already written our discharge papers. An hour later we were in the car on our way home! Lillian didn't realize what was going on until I drove the car out of the parking garage. She looked out the window and said "yay!"

All of the doctors, nurses, and staff at CHOP were fabulous. They were friendly, thorough, and they answered all of our million questions. The facilities were great, too. There was a playroom down the hall with lots of toys, crafts, and computers. I highly recommend it to anyone who lives in the Philly area.

Lillian slept really well last night. She still seems a little tired, and I can tell she doesn't feel 100% because she just wants to be held quietly. Grandma and Grandpa came last night, so she has plenty of people to take care of her! It'll take a few days for the virus to pass and for her to be running at full speed (literally).

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, prayers, concerns, visits, and meals!! You are much loved and appreciated. I'll keep you updated!

A Good Time to Be in Philly

In case you haven't heard, Philly has had some pretty exciting things happen recently. A couple of weeks ago the Phillies won the World Series! The entire city shut down for the "Championship Parade" through the city. I don't think anyone went to work, and hardly any kids went to school. Less than 30 showed up at Tasha's school! (We were mean, and we made her stay at school, but we tried to convince her teachers to give her extra credit for her. See, we're pulling for you, Tash).

The other exciting news was announced by President Monson, the prophet of my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in early October during General Conference. Philly is getting a Temple!! It will be right downtown, on Broad Street between Hamilton Street and Noble Street (look it up on Google Maps!). Right now it's just an ugly parking lot, but in a couple of years it will be one of the most beautiful landmarks in the city (that's what I think, at least).

So even though Philly has one of the highest homicide rates in the country, it's a pretty cool place to live! :)

Impressive

Wow, I actually have 2 comments on my last post! I'm impressed that you still check in on me, even though I've been the worst blogger ever. Thanks for not giving up on me! (that's why we're friends) ;)

Back on the Blog, Baby

Ok, so two more months have gone by since my last post. What can I say? I'm all out of excuses. So I'm just going to jump in right in where I left off!

The biggest news is that our family grew over the summer! We now have a fifteen year old foster girl living with us. Her name is Tasha and we know her from church. She had some unfortunate things happen during the summer and she needed a place to stay. One event led to another, and Bobby and I decided to offer ourselves as foster parents. It's been quite a learning experience and a huge life adjustment, but things are going well and we enjoy having Tasha with us. She and Lillian get along great and I enjoy the extra company when Bobby is away for late study nights. Tasha turns 16 in a couple of weeks (November 19!), so if you have any good party ideas, let me know!

Lillian is just as adorable as ever. She started walking a few days before her first birthday in July. I'll never forget the first Sunday that she was walking. We had a Munch and Mingle (this is when everyone gets together in the cultural hall to chow down on food and talk) and I felt like a chicken with its head cut off trying to keep track of Lillian. It was a new experience to have to watch where she was going!! One dear little boy in my Primary class tried to help me out by "carrying" her across the room to me, but it turned out to me more of a head-lock drag that Lillian didn't like very much! He was just trying to help, bless his little heart.

Now Lillian is babbling away and trying to tell us everything she's thinking. With the exception of a few words, we still have no idea what she's saying. We're waiting for the "baby talk" edition of the Rosetta Stone to come out. :) Her favorite word is baby (which she signs and says all day long). She also says mommy, mama, bath, bubble, night night, Paul (our neighbor friend), ball, bye, hi, wow, uh-oh, and owie. She refuses to say daddy or dada, but she says Bobby very clearly, and when you ask her "Where's Bobby?" she always points at him (she does the same thing when you ask "Where's Daddy," but she just won't say daddy!!).

The big news in Lillian's life is that she's almost 20 pounds (we're working on one pound per month), and she has two molars coming in!! Bobby noticed them today, which explains the fever she's had the last two days.

Bobby is almost done this semester. He has an OB/GYN test on Monday, then the new semester on the endocrine system starts on Tuesday- nice of them to give him a break, eh?? As always, he's doing well but always stressed. Fortunately, he's been able to spend more time at home studying than he did last year. We just decided to apply for an OMM fellowship at PCOM that would take place between his third and fourth year of school, adding on an extra year. We're ready to be done with med school and move into residency, but the fellowship would be a great experience and it would pay for 2 of the 5 years' tuition (plus a stipend for one year); it would also make him more competitive for residency applications. We should know some time in January if he's accepted. Cross your fingers and say your prayers for us!

I'm trying to think about what's new and exciting in my life. As I was in Target today I realized that I'm capable of steering a fully loaded shopping cart with one arm while holding a squirming child in the other- I consider that an accomplishment. :) On a more serious note, the most exciting thing I've been a part of recently is Obama's election this week as 44th president of our country. I was hesitant to be hopeful for his election (for fear of disappointment), but as we watched the results come in on Tuesday night I felt more and more relief wash over me. For the first time in a long time I am very proud of my country and the decision that it has made. I'm excited for our future, but especially for Lillian's, because this historic election has taken place so early in her life and it will surely set the precedent for more historic elections (and events) to come.

And on that note, I'll end this long-winded post!