Sunday, March 30, 2008
The Hunt
The Easter Egg hunt is a BIG deal in my family. Growing up with all brothers, you can imagine how...um....physical an easter egg hunt can get. There were no rules. Anything was fair, up to & including pushing eachother down the stairs. This brutality continued until grandchildren were born. Since then the violence has mostly ceased. Mostly.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at my parents house eating dinner & going through our baskets. My mom also made cupcakes for dessert. It took Hollie about 30 seconds to discover them in the kitchen. She wasn't quite tall enough to grab one, so she just stood there licking frosting off her little fingers.
I just love our Easter traditions. Love them now even more as I watch Hollie fall in love with them, too.
We spent the rest of the afternoon at my parents house eating dinner & going through our baskets. My mom also made cupcakes for dessert. It took Hollie about 30 seconds to discover them in the kitchen. She wasn't quite tall enough to grab one, so she just stood there licking frosting off her little fingers.
I just love our Easter traditions. Love them now even more as I watch Hollie fall in love with them, too.
Easter morning
What an Easter! The sun was shining & everything was just perfect. I loved watching the wonder & excitement on Hollie's face with every Easter egg she found. I think this is her new favorite holiday.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Expressions
There is nothing more expressive than a child. I love capturing each expression that brightens Hollie's face. From the laughter...
To the tears...
And everything in between...
I love each and every one of your beautiful faces.
To the tears...
And everything in between...
I love each and every one of your beautiful faces.
Saturday, March 15, 2008
For the Cass-ster
About 5 years ago, Tim was diagnosed with Kidney Failure. We were surprised, but not shocked because 2 of his siblings also have kidney failure and have had to have transplants.
Over the last 5-ish years, Tim has been seeing a nephrologist regularly every 3-6 months as requested by his doctor. They've monitored his B.U.N. and creatinine levels closely and determined late last summer that transplant time was getting close. We then met with a transplant coordinator, social worker, financial coordinator and surgeon. 13 vials of blood were drawn and labs ran. The goal for Tim during this time was to have him ready for transplantation before it became necessary for him to go on dialysis. This included, for us, finding a living donor.
We've talked to many people about donating their kidney to Tim. Not asking anyone specifically, but just throwing it out there so people know what's going on and if it's something they would be willing to do, we'd be willing to take them up on it. So many have said it's something they would think about, and we appreciate SO MUCH that they would even consider it.
At Tim's appointment today, his doctor had his name put on the waiting list for a kidney. Within the next week or so, we'll have the results of his blood work to know if he'll need to start dialysis. (His last labs read that he was at 12% kidney function, dialysis usually starts around 10% funcion.) As he has been feeling pretty good, we're hoping dialysis will be put off for a few more months.
This is where you come in.
Have you seen the billboard on the highway that says something like "Donate a kidney/car to the kidney foundation"? Well, if you've been thinking "hmm... I have this spare car lying around, but I also have a spare kidney.... what to do... what to do..." We'd like to encourage the kidney donation. :)
Here's what you do.
Call Cathy at 801-507-8311 or 801-507-3380.
Cathy is Tim's transplant coordinator. She'll schedule a time for you to get a work up done to see if you're a match for Tim.
What you need to know.
Tim's blood type is A+, however, if you are A+ OR A- you can still be a match. If the sub-grouping is necessary, it will be determined later on.
Recovery time for the donor is 4-6 weeks on average. You would be in the hospital for 5-7 days. You can't drive for 2 weeks or lift anything over 20 lbs for 3 weeks.
Either our insurance or Medicare covers both the donor surgery and the recipient surgery, so there is no out of pocket cost for you.
That's it. So now if you're thinking "I only have one kidney... I'm diabetic... I'm the wrong blood type... I hate hospitals... I'm terrified of needles... Tim? Who's Tim?" I have one more teensy weensy favor to ask to help us out. For all you bloggers out there. Link us! Copy this and post it to your blog, put a link, copy and email to friends and family, whatever. But please help us spread the word and find some new guts for my hubby.
If you do decide to be tested, please e-mail me at tim_and_cas@yahoo.com so we can follow up with the coordinator.
Whew! If ya got through all that, THANK YOU!
You can keep tabs on us and the kidney updates by visiting our blog. www.thedaysofcassie.blogspot.com
Thanks Everyone!
Cassie and Tim
Over the last 5-ish years, Tim has been seeing a nephrologist regularly every 3-6 months as requested by his doctor. They've monitored his B.U.N. and creatinine levels closely and determined late last summer that transplant time was getting close. We then met with a transplant coordinator, social worker, financial coordinator and surgeon. 13 vials of blood were drawn and labs ran. The goal for Tim during this time was to have him ready for transplantation before it became necessary for him to go on dialysis. This included, for us, finding a living donor.
We've talked to many people about donating their kidney to Tim. Not asking anyone specifically, but just throwing it out there so people know what's going on and if it's something they would be willing to do, we'd be willing to take them up on it. So many have said it's something they would think about, and we appreciate SO MUCH that they would even consider it.
At Tim's appointment today, his doctor had his name put on the waiting list for a kidney. Within the next week or so, we'll have the results of his blood work to know if he'll need to start dialysis. (His last labs read that he was at 12% kidney function, dialysis usually starts around 10% funcion.) As he has been feeling pretty good, we're hoping dialysis will be put off for a few more months.
This is where you come in.
Have you seen the billboard on the highway that says something like "Donate a kidney/car to the kidney foundation"? Well, if you've been thinking "hmm... I have this spare car lying around, but I also have a spare kidney.... what to do... what to do..." We'd like to encourage the kidney donation. :)
Here's what you do.
Call Cathy at 801-507-8311 or 801-507-3380.
Cathy is Tim's transplant coordinator. She'll schedule a time for you to get a work up done to see if you're a match for Tim.
What you need to know.
Tim's blood type is A+, however, if you are A+ OR A- you can still be a match. If the sub-grouping is necessary, it will be determined later on.
Recovery time for the donor is 4-6 weeks on average. You would be in the hospital for 5-7 days. You can't drive for 2 weeks or lift anything over 20 lbs for 3 weeks.
Either our insurance or Medicare covers both the donor surgery and the recipient surgery, so there is no out of pocket cost for you.
That's it. So now if you're thinking "I only have one kidney... I'm diabetic... I'm the wrong blood type... I hate hospitals... I'm terrified of needles... Tim? Who's Tim?" I have one more teensy weensy favor to ask to help us out. For all you bloggers out there. Link us! Copy this and post it to your blog, put a link, copy and email to friends and family, whatever. But please help us spread the word and find some new guts for my hubby.
If you do decide to be tested, please e-mail me at tim_and_cas@yahoo.com so we can follow up with the coordinator.
Whew! If ya got through all that, THANK YOU!
You can keep tabs on us and the kidney updates by visiting our blog. www.thedaysofcassie.blogspot.com
Thanks Everyone!
Cassie and Tim
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Hey there.
Man, where does the time go? It seems like I just barely posted & that was weeks ago now. Sheesh! Life is good here, though. Just busy. We had my nephew's baby blessing today & Erin's (Sam's brother's wife's) mom hired me to do a mini session with all of her grandkids. It was so fun to just shoot portraits & candids. Working with kids is always so chaotic, but I love how the lens just freezes each & every moment.
Anyway, I've had a few other sessions in the past couple weeks & I've been having a blast with photoshop. After being anti-action for so long, I've finally found 2 that I absolutely love. I always give them my own kick, but they're a great jumping off point. This black & white one is my new best friend. So, I've been playing with my camera a lot lately. Here are a couple of randoms from this week...
Anyway, I've had a few other sessions in the past couple weeks & I've been having a blast with photoshop. After being anti-action for so long, I've finally found 2 that I absolutely love. I always give them my own kick, but they're a great jumping off point. This black & white one is my new best friend. So, I've been playing with my camera a lot lately. Here are a couple of randoms from this week...
Draw.
So, you know those times when your kids shock & amaze you? Yeah, we had one of those the other day. I was upstairs showering, and I came down to find this...
Apparently, she had picked up a pencil & just started drawing. The weirdest part was that she was holding it perfectly! I have never taught her how to do this. This is literally the first time she has colored. We've tried in the past but all she did was eat the crayons. It's just amazing how much they watch & take in. I love you, my funny little girl!
Apparently, she had picked up a pencil & just started drawing. The weirdest part was that she was holding it perfectly! I have never taught her how to do this. This is literally the first time she has colored. We've tried in the past but all she did was eat the crayons. It's just amazing how much they watch & take in. I love you, my funny little girl!
Cousins
A couple of weeks ago, we had a play date with all of Hollie's cousins on my side of the family. The kids just play so cute together, plus Jen, Tammy & I had a great time visiting. Tammy had the fabulous idea to get a shot of all of the grandkids standing in a line. Of course, my kid was the stinker who didn't want to participate. Hence, her either running away or CJ hanging on to her in most of the shots. It's fun to see each of their personalities, though. Here are their ages (I think I got them right) ... Ollie - 5, Ike - 28 mos, CJ - 19 mos, Hollie - 14 mos, Abram - 9 mos. Yeah, there were 4 kids born within about 18 months of eachother. They must have been plotting together up in heaven.
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