Birthday fun

Penny's birthday was a festival of fun that lasted nearly a week. On Tuesday (her actual birthday), she enjoyed a lovely dinner of mac and cheese. Note her fondness for broccoli! Yay! The crisis care nurse for the day said that a birthday cake at age one is an absolute MUST and as such, brought a Cookie Monster cupcake for Penny to enjoy. As you can see, the cupcake was tons of fun. Penny sang as she painted with the icing. For the remaining week, I was cleaning little flecks of blue from the floor, walls, appliances behind her chair, carpet in the next room, etc. Advice for all the one-year-olds-to-be out there -- plan on a splash zone. Oh, and don't include a glass of milk until after icing is out of the way.

On Thursday, Penny celebrated her one year status by getting her first of many immunizations (H1N1 flu). She was a real trooper for the whole 2.5 hour wait outdoors in a line that wrapped around the Univ. of Dayton Arena parking lot (the lot, not the arena).

Then I made tons of desserts and fun "This Is Your Life" style signs for Penny's birthday party on Sunday. Though the big guest of honor (Daddy) had to detour to NYC to be with his ailing father, Penny still had a good time playing with her cousins and discovering that edible paper can also be used to conceal exciting things like books and clothes. Here is Aunt Marian with the three little ones (Penny, John and Indio) enthralled.

On Monday, Dan's father passed away when he was removed from the ventilator. Dan said it was a peaceful departure and what his father would have wanted. Since Dan's time in America is limited, he came to visit Penny and I on Monday night and headed back to NYC on Wednesday so he could attend the funeral on Thursday. Dan's visit was brief, but he really enjoyed his time playing with Penny.

Dan's visit to Ohio happened at the same time we were being weaned off the 24-hour crisis care nurses. Amanda and I are the only ones allowed to administer the IV meds, which can take as much as 30 minutes to prepare and give to Mom. So Dan helped keep an eye on Penny while I did more of Mom's care and ran an errand or two. It has been a little rough without the nurses here checking in on Mom on a regular basis. Mom hates to be a nuisance, so tries to do things herself, which sometimes leads to more complications, especially at night. We have nursing assistants visit us twice a day to help with big tasks like bathing and changing sheets. With a little more help, we should be able to keep Mom at home for a bit longer. She is starting to ask where she is, so I'm guessing that soon it won't matter to her where she is being taken care of as long as the care is good and caring. We appreciate all your prayers and support as we continue on this arduous journey.