Sophie's World

9:15 PM We've been through one week with Sophie "catheter-free." It's not been a party the whole time, though. Sophie's reaction to the steroids this past week was more difficult than we had hoped--irrational, irritable, unable to sleep through the night, etc. The "'roid rage" seemed to kick in earlier last week as well. On Thursday, Sophie's preschool teacher commented that she was more emotional than normal. She suspected the steroids, but wasn't certain. We were. After all of our excitement about Sophie taking a "real" bath, she has been less than excited. Bathtime usually consists of Sophie crying her head off while I give her a bath. Granted, it has nothing to do with her physical health, just being tired, frustrated, or unwilling to take a bath at that very moment. It also seems as if the meds have made her feel more aches and pains this time around--as late as last night at dance class (one day off steroids), she cried and cried and cried about her knee hurting (then again, there was the incident with jumping on the bed late last week that did not turn out well. I don't think she'll be jumping on the bed anymore). I haven't missed a single saline heparin flush, a single cap change, or a single dressing change. Thanks be to God!

Elisabeth is doing well, also. We had our first parent-teacher conference for Elisabeth's progress reports. She's doing very, very well in school this year. We're so proud of her. It seems as if she's even doing better in school this year than last year. Maybe having a (relatively) stable home life makes a difference! She's certainly enjoying school a lot this year. Third grade is a great age to be in school, I think. There's so much to learn and you already know so much. I'm having fun drilling Elisabeth on her multiplication--I vividly remember pacing around the kitchen when I was a kid, memorizing the multiplication table. Her least favorite subject is math, although she does very well in it. We try to encourage math and science as much as possible, but it doesn't take much.

I mentioned to Elisabeth that I would make a plea on Sophie's weblog for help with her fundraisers at school. Don't be afraid, I am not trying to sell you anything. The school collects can tabs and box tops from General Mills products. It's a relatively easy way to raise money for the school, because nearly everyone gets a canned beverage now and then (some of us more than we should), or uses General Mills products. If you are interested in supporting Elisabeth's fundraising efforts, save your can tabs and/or General Mills box tops (the little one-inch-square logo is sufficient, I think) and send them to us. It might be fun to see where we get boxtops and cans from!

Thanks for checking in and continue to keep us all in your prayers!