A Happy Anniversary

Giovanni and I celebrated our anniversary yesterday. We went out (childless) to eat at the Claim Jumper then we rented the movie Fireproof. We had a fabulous dinner and really enjoyed the movie. 

We are so grateful that we are still together and that we have such a wonderful family! I'm grateful that I'm married to a man who loves me and tries so hard at everything. Thank you honey!!!

A Good Result

Braden had another blood test a couple days ago and it came back within NORMAL range. His doctor thinks his body was just fighting a really hard virus that was affecting his cell level and just wouldn't leave for a couple weeks. We are so relieved and thankful!

Laundry Soap

I tried something that I've wanted to for a while now- make my own laundry soap. Through another lady's blog I got the recipe and gave it a try. I love it!! It sounds daunting but it's SUPER easy and the money you save is unbelievable. Even with an all natural soap it will cost me about 2 cents a load. I haven't figured it exactly yet. 

So if you have a few minutes and want to give it a go here's the recipe:

1/3 bar of soap

1/2 cup WASHING soda (not baking soda)

1/2 cup Borax

Grate bar of soap and put it in a sauce pan (don't worry it cleans up very easily). Add 6 cups of water and heat, stirring, until soap melts. Then add the soda and Borax. Keep stirring until dissolved. Next, pour 4 cups of hot water into a large bucket with a lid. (It needs to be able to hold 2 gallons) Pour the soap mixture into the bucket. Stir. Pour in 1 gallon plus 6 cups warm water. Stir. Cover with a lid and let set 24 hours. 

After it has set there will be a thick layer of gel on the top and fluid underneath. Stir it up and use 1/2 cup for each load. The mixture is supposed to be clumpy  looking. 

Makes 64 loads. 

As I was getting ready to do this post our computer started acting funny so it won't let me post me pictures of my soap bucket. Bummer. Well, maybe tomorrow I'll be awake enough to figure it out.

Update on Braden

  Well, we got the blood test results back on Braden about a week ago and they showed that his total cell count was lower than it had been. There are different types of white blood cells and now he has two of them that are running low. The week before he only had one. His doctor did reassure me though, that it doesn't look like anything life threatening. But he wants us to do one more cell count and then we'll go from there. 

   Tomorrow I am taking him back to Children's hospital for the test. They get the results back very quickly so hopefully I'll know a little something more in just a couple days.

Prayer For Braden

Please pray for Braden. The poor boy has been so sick. He went to Children's where they took a blood sample. His white blood cell count is low. Now dangerously low but still low. Because he had a fever and broke out with tiny purple spots, they are hoping the low level is because of infection or bacteria. So they gave him and antibiotic through his IV then sent him home. He was so lethargic.

Today he went to his regular pediatrician. He's feeling a little better but they still had to give him the rest of the antibiotics. It was very painful as they had to use two syringes and push the fluid in slowly. Later he was so sore he could hardly walk and he cried and cried. Tomorrow his doctor is supposed to call me with the final results of his blood culture. Then after he is better I have to take him back to Children's for some more blood tests. They want to see what his blood cell level is when he's well and also to test him for celiac disease. 

He seems so miserable and there's not much I do for him. He's such a sweetie and I feel so bad that he can't tell me what's wrong. Hopefully these tests will give us some answers. 

Cat food...Again

I don't know what it is but she LOVES cat food. How awful is that? Every time I put food down for the cat I have to watch her because she'll quickly dive right in. She must like meat (is that stuff really meat?). It kind of cracks me up and makes me sick at the same time. NOW, when I give her baby food she shivers and gags and tries to keep her mouth clamped. What in the world?!

Just too cute!

There's no story behind this picture except that it's just cute! It's from about a week ago. Katelyn is now 9 months and loved the mirror. (Oh no)