June 2009 – Samsmom

This week…..

We checked back into Children’s on Thursday. Samantha had been on antibiotics for an ear infection. She wasn’t getting any better; perhaps a little worse. It was time, once again, to camp out on the 8th floor.

I called my parents and they expressed how sorry they were that we were back in.

“It’s okay,” I said, “we’ll get some answers and we’ll get her healed up.” I sounded slightly nonchalant and a bit blase’ about being back in. Have I gotten to used to this? Am I giving up? Just accepting that this is part of our life?

I don’t feel blase’. As I strapped on my big-girl undies, I felt like I was doing what was best for Samantha. Everytime we are back in, we move forward on the radar. We get more answers about tests, we push a little further.

Don’t get me wrong. I hate being in the hospital. But I think one of our greatest accomplishments as a family is that we have figured out how to be in the hospital. Our life does not stop.

This weekend I went for two 25 mile bike rides. I reserved a sleep room and got eight hours of sleep while Bart took the night shift. Bart went for a run and had a beer with my dad. We got out, we laughed…we had a decent weekend.

Samantha was exercised as she felt better. She was read to and cuddled for hours by her daddy.

Perhaps this works because we have to make it work. As I was riding today, I felt the warm wind in my face, the sweet scent of fresh mowed grass and marveled at how comfortable I’m feeling on my bike. I felt soulful, peaceful and strong. This is our life after all and we have to keep on living.

Speaking of life and growth….Samantha is growing MRSA in her ears and bladder. Infectious Disease has ordered more tests to determine how well her white cells are working since she gets infected so often. Hopefully, this will give us some answers.

She is comfortable right now and looking a little snarky. I think she’s feeling better 🙂 We’re hoping to go home tomorrow. She knows she is adored, not only by us but by all of you who keep sending good thoughts and prayers.

Thank you 🙂

The Samantha Years

An International Request

June 23, 2009October 20, 2018 Hschichie

Princess Samantha gets many requests from her fans. This latest was a little hard to decipher…it was all the way from our friends in France! Fortunately, it was from one princess to another….princesses speak the same language.

Here was the message from Princess Abigail……

I WANT MORE PICCIES OF THE LITTLE PRINCESS !! I WANT MORE PICCIES OF THE LITTLE PRINCESS !! I WANT MORE PICCIES OF THE LITTLE PRINCESS !! I WANT MORE PICCIES OF THE LITTLE PRINCESS !! I WANT MORE PICCIES OF THE LITTLE PRINCESS !! I WANT MORE PICCIES OF THE LITTLE PRINCESS !! I WANT MORE PICCIES OF THE LITTLE PRINCESS !!

Quite subtle, don’t you think?

What’s a girl to do?

I’ve been busy….keeping my father in line!

It’s a tough job.

Grandma Lyn came to visit!

We had several long chats.

Mom felt it necessary to take me to the eye doctor.

She then whooped it up with friends at her 20th high school reunion!

I didn’t know people could be so old!!!

They keep me busy…what could possibly be next????

The Sammer Hammer of course!

Me, Pop and Daddy!

Crazy, crazy Mama.

Me, my Aunt Poling, my lovely cousins, and Grandma Lyn!

Love my Daddy.

The Sammer Hammer raised $2,200 for epilepsy research. What a team!

Snogs to our friends across the pond!

XO-
Princess S.

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The 20th Reunion and My Facebook Addiction

June 16, 2009 Hschichie

My 20 year high school reunion was planned through Facebook.

I think the only computer class I took in high school was on a clunky IBM with a black screen and green characters, it hummed when it was thinking. This was before AOL had mail, when Amazon was only a river and Bill Gates was still nerdy. Now look at me, my computer is chained to my right hand; right by my i-phone and my mp3 player. The Internet is my social, artistic and informational network.

Facebook.

Because all Facebook don’t we? Of course we do (oh come on, admit it). We post pictures of our vacations, our children, our events. It is the ultimate, ultimate social network. When I got the invitation to my 20th, I started connecting with long, lost high school buddies; checking blog sites, seeing what everyone was up to, commenting on cute three-year old birthday photos.

As it got closer to our reunion, someone commented that maybe Facebook had replaced the need for reunions. Was this true? Did we no longer need to meet and exchange cute birthday photos if we had already done it on Facebook?

Interesting thought….I had connected with many people who I didn’t think I would ever see again. Suddenly I knew where they had vacationed in Europe, how many children they had and that on Thursday night, they were quite annoyed that the cat had thrown up on the Persian rug.

Does this qualify as a reunion?

My answer after this weekend is resoundingly…..NO….

It does help. Walking into room of people I hadn’t seen in a while, it was nice to know who just bought a house, who got married, who has a new girlfriend…..it takes the small talk out of the situation. It is a little strange however, to know so much about some one’s life who you actually haven’t seen in twenty years. It’s a level of knowing that maybe I haven’t earned because I haven’t actually seen them in a while.

And let’s face it, it is quite odd to meet your classmates new husband and already know that on Wednesday night they had quite the flatulence problem because their wife posted it on Facebook. Hmmmmm….let’s work up to that knowledge, perhaps over a beer or two.

So no, this network doesn’t replace conversation and interaction. We can blog, text, facebook, email and tweet…….it’s all good but it doesn’t mean quite as much until we meet…..

and it was good to meet again 🙂