Numbers Dropping For Ella.....Up In The Air For Abbey and Emma

This time I was not a loser! I remembered to take pictures of Abbey and Emma before they got on the plane. Today they flew up to Oregon to spend time with my cousin and aunt and uncle. They will spend a few days in Bend and then a few days in Knappa which is a small town outside of Astoria. Tonight I am at home with NO CHILDREN!! Too bad it is because Ella is in the hospital. But I am trying to make the most of it. My second mom is with Ella tonight and then tomorrow daddy will stay with her as it is his last night that he can before going back to work. SOOOOO since my birthday is Sunday and I will be at the hospital, I am declaring tomorrow to be my birthday (not that I really enjoy celebrating them anymore). But I am having lunch with some friends and then going to scrapbook in my very quiet house the rest of the day. Oh, I can't wait. I haven't touched the stuff since right before Ella was diagnosed. I am also putting a corned beef and cabbage in the crock pot to cook and I MIGHT let me mom and sister intrude on my quiet house just long enough to eat some with me. I know it is a simple day....but I am looking so forward to it. I mean how often do you have an empty house???? I feel kind of guilty spending so much time away from the hospital this week but it just happens that I have had a lot of backup and I guess I need to take advantage of it while it is here. I know I will be back there for quite a bit starting Sunday.

Here are a few pictures from the last few days at the hospital. Nothing too exciting...just Ella being her usual goofy self. Her blood counts are starting to drop as they should be. She got a platelet transfusion a few days ago and is verging on needing some red blood cells as well but hasn't quite hit that point yet.

Can you say 60's drugged out hippie!!

How many of you can do this?

Just hanging around reading

This is her new "say cheese" face

This is little Ruby. She is two doors down from us and also

has AML :( I had a hard time getting a good pic of them together.

"What are you looking at??"

Ella's Fundraiser Tshirts

These are the Tshirts that they are selling at the Fundraiser for Ella through Joe's work. Aren't they awesome!!! (Rosie you did a wonderful job as usual) Of course I am partial to the one with her adorable mug on it!! If you click on each shirt, it will enlarge it so you can read the details better. (At least us old people need to)

Mostly Pictures

Ella continues to do well. As you can see from the picture above, she is still a feisty little thing!! Her blood counts are starting to drop...especially her platelets. She may be getting a platelet transfusion tonight. But her energy is still good and so far no fevers. We pray that it stays that way as the biggest worry at this point is some sort of infection. She is finally unhooked from the IV during the day which gives us a lot more freedom to play on the floor and go for walks. My mom stayed with Ella the last two days so we could do some 4th of July things with the big girls while they are in between trips. We went to a BBQ and then watched fireworks. I couldn't get over how chilly it was at night. I was literally wrapped in a blanket while watching the fireworks show. Anyway, here are some pics from the couple of days I was in the hospital. Hope everyone had a wonderful 4th!!

Ella and Grandma Betty

Ella and Auntie Lisa


Our little musician

Not too happy with her weight???

Making faces in the mirror with my long

time friend, Debbie's daughter, Lauren

More faces

Such a good copy cat

My friends, Linda and Debbie whom I have known for

30 years....since 7th grade...wow!!!

Debbie's beautiful daughter's, Lauren and Kaylee

Ella was having fun playing in her crib and kept taking the

towel on and off her head...couldn't quite catch the cutest

moments, of course!!

Got this in the mail from Aubrey along with the

cutest little knit Minnie Mouse ears hat..can't

wait to get a picture of Ella wearing it. (Lacey,

you will be soooo jealous!)

This picture was emailed from Faith...I just love

that people are praying for Ella all over the country!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

She Is Doing Well

Ella has now completed the infusion (putting poison into her IV) part of round 2. It finished this morning with a shot in the leg of one of the other chemo medications that she gets this round. So far, she has been feeling fine. I wouldn't say that she has seemed to be nauseous at all so far. ( I really hope that I am not jinxing her now. ) I am sure as this next week goes on, she will start to get more and more tired as her blood counts start to drop but that is to be expected and it really never got terribly bad last round. We will remain in the hospital while her counts drop and come back up to an acceptable level, just like last time. We were inpatient for a total of 27 days the first round so hopefully this round will be a little less since part of that was all of the stuff she dealt with those first few days.

Big sisters, Abbey and Emma came home Wednesday night and daddy brought them straight to the hospital to see Ella. I think they were all very happy to see each other. The next night Emma came with daddy for our switch off and Ella wouldn't stop giving her kisses and hugs. The next adventure for the big girls will be heading to Oregon on July 8th to spend a week with my cousin, Robin and my Aunt Judy and Uncle Denny. When I was a kid, I used to go up there during the summers and LOVED it. I think they will have a great time!! They really enjoyed being in TX and catching up with all their old friends. They have pretty much been lazy bums since they got back. I think that it what happens when you basically have 10 sleepovers in a row.

Will The Real Baby Please Stand Up

Tomorrow we go back into the hospital for at probably at least 3 weeks, so today we had a lot of fun!!

This picture was taken over a year ago right after Ella turned one. I THINK she has grown just a little!!

Standing And Dancing

Sorry this video is so long but when I post something from One true media it always makes it a new post so I wanted to add these two videos together. I said many times that Ella is always the center of the show and here is just another example. We were at my sister's who had some friends over and we all were surrounding her and watching her entertain us. She would stand up on the bed, which amazed me as it is so not solid, and then clap because she was so proud of herself and wait for us to cheer too. We tried to get some good video of her getting her groove on but she only half cooperated.

We have been home since Saturday night and will go back in on Wednesday for the looooong stay. So needless to say, we are enjoying every minute at home!!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Hospital Pictures and Video

Actually the title isn't quite right....a few of these picture are from the day before we went in and I just never had a chance to post them. Enjoy the photo montage and especially the video at the end.

Enjoying my last day of freedom outside for a few days.

At the car wash waiting for mommy's car.

Being goofy with the straw wrapper

Helping mommy clean my lines

Check out this gift from one of Daddy's co-workers.

Thank you Cardenas family!!!


Giving the doll a kiss...she is like a new family member.
Notice that Ella is holding the heparin tube in her hand..
I think she really thinks she is the Dr.


Awww....my new friend!!

Isn't this the cutest pillow case...made especially for Ella

from her wonderful blog friend Anna

Mommy and Ella's self portrait

In awe of the "Music Man"

Playing along

This is a good way to keep out the morning light and the

noise that all those nurses make when they come in.

Catching up on some reading

I love this video....but make sure you watch until the very end!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com