I am still here!

I honestly don't know where the last month + has gone! I think I was so focused on getting last minute things together for my high school reunion, that my computer time was always spent on that. Which means blog...email...etc. just all got put on the back burner. I will try to get back at it here though. And I will also try not to bore you all to much with a drawn out catch-up.

First - Updated on little Ragan! She improved and has been able to go back home. She is still fighting the cancer though. So PLEASE continue to keep her in your prayers!!

High School Reunion
I had a really fun time at my 15 year high school reunion on June 28th. I enoyed catching up with some old friends...as well as talking to some others from my class that I had never really talked with before. There were seriously a couple of people that I didn't speak more than a couple words to in high school (we just ran in different groups and took different classes...so were never around each other except in the halls or the cafeteria) that I ended up talking more to at the reunion than all of our junior high/high school time!! And from the comments I heard that night, I think pretty much everyone that had come had a good time too.

Two Weeks in St. Louis area
Actually not in St. Louis, but a little west of there at my parents'. The boys and I (John was out in Las Vegas for some of the World Series of Poker events) spent the week before and the week after with them. During that time we visited the nursing home my Grandma Stroud is living in and Drew handed out some patriotic crafts he had completed to the people on her floor... we visited the Museum of Transportation - looked at LOTS of trains there....visited the St. Louis Zoo with my parents, my brother, his wife and their son...celebrated the 4th of July with my parents' annual BBQ for family & friends...and just spent time visiting with my parents. Drew also got to spend an evening with my brother. Doug took Drew to the Nascar SpeedPark where Drew had a BLAST! I only wish Doug had taken his camera ;)

Before we headed to St. Louis, we were able to spend some time with John's mom, her friend, John's sister (Rebecca) and her husband (Evan). They all stayed with us over a weekend when they came in to town for a baby shower some of Rebecca's friends were throwing for her. It was during that weekend we realized Drew has some sleeping problems. We knew he snored a LOT, but never realized that he actually stopps breathing off and on throughout the night! So I called his doctor about it, and she sent us straight to an ENT (ear-nose-throat specialist) to have him looked at. That appointment was this past Friday. We were told to record Drew sleeping (audio or video) so the doctor would be able to hear what we were talking about. We didn't end up needing the recording though. After we decribed the sounds he makes when he is struggling to breathe while he is sleeping sometimes and then he looked in his throat...he said there was no need to hear it. The doctor said there was good and bad....the bad is he has sleep apnea (which is what John & I had thought would be the verdict). He said this is very serious in children because it can cause permenant damage to the artery going to his lungs if it wasn't taken care of. The good is that it is solvable...he has to have his tonsils and adenoids removed. So on Friday, August 15th (exactly 5 months after I had my tonsils removed), Drew will go in bright and early to have a tonsillectomy and his adenoids removed. Along with helping with his sleep, we are hoping this might solve some of his behavior problems. Behavior problems which I should add HAVE gone down a good deal already. I think he is finally starting to mature. I'm not saying they are all gone or that we still don't have the big fits...but usually they are shorter big fits :)

Since back home, I had taken Zach in to the doctor because he has developed a bad rash. It started about a week ago on his leg...then spread to his back and a little on his face. It is now all over his arms and legs. It looks so yucky! The doctor says it is just a viral rash that they can't do anything for and that isn't contageous at this point (just when he was running the fever before the rash broke out -- I SURE hope Tyler doesn't end up with this since he had a slight temp on the 4th!!). Zach doesn't seem to be bothered by it at least. So just in case the doctor is wrong and it is something that could be shared, I kept him home from church today.

I will stop with that and try to come back later in the week with a delicious (& very simple) recipe a scrapping friends (thanks, Gina!) shared with me. Before I go, here is a little Slide photo show of some of what has been going on for us during the last month.