Mini update

Two things....

Jim has kicked the blood infection part of his infection, however, it is still believed the source of the infection is lurking somewhere in his body. They have located a pocket of fluid in his hip that may be the source of the infection. The hospital where he is at now is dragging their feet with their decisions about what to do. Therefore, his doctor has decided to have him moved to UIC Hospital, which is a "better" hospital with doctors who are more used to dealing with medical issues like this. Please continue to keep Jim in your thoughts.

My mom is having outpatient surgery today to remove a piece of glass from her face that she got from her accident over a year ago. The doctor who is also a plastic surgeon is going to work on a scar she has on her face from the accident as well. When she was originally in the hospital after the accident they didn't put any stitches in the laceration so she has a pretty deep scar now. Please keep her in your thoughts too.

Icky Stuff

Jim, Andrew's dad, is very sick right now. He has been in the hospital since Tuesday, with what we originally thought was severe arthritis pain in his hip. It was discovered two days ago that he has a MRSA Staph infection, which means this particular strain of Staph is resistant to antibiotics. The good news is the strain Jim has is responding to antibiotics in the lab. The bad news is that the infection is not getting any better in his body, although it's not getting any worse either. They believe that the reason the infection isn't getting better is because the source of the infection is in a place that isn't getting any/enough of the antibiotics they are pumping into him. Today, they did an echo cardiogram on his heart to see if the source of the infection was in his heart. At this point the results from the test are negative, but because of a severe gag reflex they were only able to to an external ultrasound. They will have to go back later and do another internal cardiogram to completely rule out the heart. That's where we are right now.

Please keep Jim as well as all of the Chudzick Family in your thoughts during this fight.

Look Ma no hands!

I have been dying to get a picture of Emma standing on her own, but it's a pretty tricky feat. She is getting more and more steady standing unsupported, but it usually only lasts 10-20 seconds and she only does it sporadically. So yesterday we were playing on the couch with her new favorite toy, the remote, and she was standing there drooling all over it and I just happened to have my camera! Perfect!

This remote sure tastes yummy
I love how she looks so serious
I know this is super close, but look at those teeth! There are two more coming in on the top too!

I'm in LOVE

My SIL Sarah gave me a gift card to Kirklands about 2 years ago for my birthday and I just used it this last weekend. At first when we walked in we were like, oh, this really isn't our taste. But the more we walked around the more stuff we found that we liked. The best part is that their prices are awesome! I would say most everything is 1/2 of what you would pay at Target or somewhere similar. We could have bought so much stuff, but limited ourselves on this trip. I am so excited Sarah introduced me to Kirklands and I can't believe I waited so long to use the GC!

Our new clock over the mantle
"Wine Label" wall art (so cool!)

Misc Pictures

Andrew in his new toy
Emma and Daddy relaxing

The one souvenir Andrew got from Mexico was a hammock. He loved relaxing in the hammock garden at the hotel and said he had to get one. This last weekend he put up the hammock in the garage, coincidentally it's right in front of the tv (for cubs game watching) and only 5 feet from the fridge (for beer consumption). Although, it's not the same as being on the beach it's a close second.

On another note, Emma has figured out how to open cabinet doors, and quite quickly I must add. This weekend we finally broke down and bought the cabinet locks. I have reserved one cabinet with just plastic stuff for E to explore, which she loves to do. It provides at least 10 minutes of good entertainment (yeah for me!) and I think it's hilarious to see her climb in and out of the cabinets.

Look at that smile! Someone's having fun!