When the cats away the mouse will play

Once a year Auntie would take us on Easter break for a week to places far and wide. These are the best memories of all the nieces and David being crammed in the 1978 Blue Cadillac and traveling far and wide.

While on these adventures Dad would be left home alone because he had to work. And every time we would come back to some type of home improvement he had made. It actually became a game to see what he would do by the time we came back.

When Mom & I were in Utah with Sara and Mary, this time was no different.

When we got home we found that he had taken the time to have a paint matched to the fireplace, painted our conversation pit and our family room and put up new molding.

I wanted to share with you all our new look. It is quite a nice change and actually makes our old couch look better than it ever has.

Enjoy

Marilee

More info on Sara

Hello Family:

I wanted to give you another update on Sara. This infection SUCKS!!

My last update was that she had to have the PICC (peripherally inserted central catheter) inserted because her veins kept collapsing in her hand and they needed a full proof way to get the Vancomycin into her body to kill the MRSA. I have attached a picture below of the procedure.


Unfortunately she started to get cold chills and a fever (while on ibupropen) so she now has doctors fighting over her condition and wondering where to go next. The pharmacist in Salt Lake City thinks that the PICC line was causing another infection and her own doctor thinks that she was having a reaction to the Vancomycin because they had upped the dosage from 1.5 to 2.0.

So to be on the safe side the PICC line was removed today and she will be now starting another antibiotic that is supposed to be even stronger than the Vancomycin, and this wonder drug is called Zyvox. Zyvox however for the 20 pill/10 day dosage costs over $1600.00. Blessedly her doctor was able to get Medicaid to approve it.

The pharmacist joked with Andrew and asked if he wanted a bodyguard as he left because of the expense of the drug.

One of the other reasons Sara is not getting better as quickly as we would like is because she is so tired. Mary's Grandma Val took her the other evening so hopefully Sara could get some solid sleep . The other hard thing for Sara is that she can't nurse Mary right now because of the strength of the drug. She is having such a hard time with this as you can imagine because all Sara wants to do is get better and enjoy motherhood with her precious little girl.

We just pray that this new drug does it's job and continues to kill the MRSA and that Sara will finally be on the road to healing. This is such a difficult time for Sara, Andrew and Mary but also for her family here in California as we feel so powerless.

Thank you so much for the prayers on our behalf as it is truly appreciated.

Love to all

Marilee

Update on Sara

Hello all:

Here is the latest update on our Sara. She went to her follow up doctor appointment and received the results of the fluid taken from her infection.

It was found that she had 3 different infections (as this can only happen to Sara)

It was determined that to treat these horrible infections she must start with 10 days of IV antibiotics at home. This was good news but depressing at the same time as she was informed that she couldn't nurse Mary for these few days.

We are very hopeful that this strong antibiotic named Vancomycin will kick the butt of this infection and that she will be returned to normal health so she can enjoy motherhood.

We have had some funny circumstances in this trial, such as having to hang the IV from a nail in the wall because the home nurse forgot the IV pole or a having the same nurse cancel because she had to attend to the baby kids born to her goat the night before. Life in a small farming town is very different than the big city.

I have attached some pictures of Sara with her IV, so you can all share in the humor and pain.

We appreciate the thoughts and prayers.



Homemade IV hanging



Sara with her IV posing with Andrew & Mary Jade

************* UPDATE **********************
Sara's IV is failing because her veins have been poked too much so she is now going to Utah Valley Regional Medical in Provo and having a pick put in.

This is an outpatient therapy where they put a device in her arm to receive the IV antibiotics easier. Her appointment is already made at the hospital for 4 PM. We will follow up with more information.

Sara's condition

Sara woke up at 3 am in excruciating pain and had Andrew take her to the emergency room.

When she got there they waited for an 1 1/2 because this hospital is not the finest example of health care systems and it is my firm belief that the flunk outs from medical school and nursing school end up in Mt. Pleasant, Utah. As it turns out the ER doctor and Sara's Dr. have a bad history where they don't agree with each other so it gave him great pleasure to wake her up.

The ER doctor told her if she was his wife he would have had her back in the OR to open her up and completely drain her but Sara had a strong intuition this was not a good idea especially because had she done this Mary would have been taken away from her, because Sara would have to be put in complete isolation and you might as well rip out her heart.

Although if it had to happen it would have to happen for her health sake, although her mother in law had been treated by this ER doctor at one time and she wasn't a fan.

He also told her that one of the medications she was taking was hurting Mary's cartilage but again she felt this was incorrect. She spoke with her doctor on the phone and her doctor said she could do what she wanted, but if it was up to her she would wait until she could see her, so Sara checked herself out of the hospital. And then on the way home they came a breath away from hitting a MORONIC deer.

She came home and got about an hour of sleep while Mary slept with grandma. They went to her Dr.s office at 8 AM and they had a phone consult with an OB-GYN in Sandy that is supposed to be really good and they decided to make 2 1 inch deep cuts in the site of her Cesarean and drained about 3 16 oz cups of fluid. And this had to be done with no anesthesia because it would have not taken, so she dug her nails into the palm of her hand and the other hand squeezed Andrew's hand.

They then put in a wick which is a foot long piece of gauze in each wound that help drain more fluid while she is at home. We will then take her to the doctor on Thursday and Friday for more fluid drainage and they might be doing an ultrasound to make sure there is not an abscess in there.

The doctor they did the consult with said she didn't need the antibiotics but when they were done with the conference call, Dr. Jackson told Sara to stay on the antibiotics and to not worry about her breast milk because that concern the other doctor had was from a case study that was done on beagles but it was done on beagles in the womb and not ones that had already been born, and the beagle has a hard time developing cartlidge anyway and this is a human baby we are talking about and it was better to have the protection from further infection.

The Dr. did tell her this is a common thing after some C-Sections but this is the worse case she has ever seen, but for those of you that know Sara personally she always ends up with the worse case Scenario.

Anyways Mom & I are staying with Sara and Mary until Sunday and we ask for lots of prayers that my sweet sister heals and gets to feel like herself again.

I have attached pictures for you to share in, including Mary's 1st bath.

Hugs to all

Marilee



Preparing for the 1st bath



I have a secret, I think I like this



That was an experience, but now I shine



Cozy warm in my fluffy towel.



Cozy with my Grandma


I love my Auntie Marilee



I love my Mommy, she is the bomb!!!

This is Halloween

Hello Family & Friends:

I'm sorry that Halloween pictures got put up late but the beautiful Mary Jade took center stage and trumped Halloween.

As most of you know I am a wacky, crazy, Disney fan. And yes 100% of the time it is Cinderella, but I felt the need to be wicked this year.

So I chose Maleficent the evil queen from Sleeping beauty. It was actually the most thought I have put into a costume in a long time, and was a lot of fun.

I have also posted pictures of Ruby, Noah, Holly & Lily's Halloween costumes. I am truly blessed to have such gorgeous children as my nieces and nephew.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and that you got your favorite candy.

Big Hugs
Marilee



Maleficent descends on La Crescenta


She then took her evil ways to State Farm
and took over the Office Managers desk.


The crafty Morgan Marshall then tried to
attack the evil queen, but she got away.



She then posed with the Office
Managers co-workers Cleopatra and
cave girl (AKA Fred Flintstones mistress -
Ask Marilee for explanation)



Ruby the cheerleader


Noah the cowboy


Holly the penguin


Lily the Pooh Bear sunflower

Introducing.....Mary Jade Ostler

Hello Family and Friends:

It is with much excitement and joy that the Potters announce the arrival of Mary Jade Ostler. She was born to Andrew and Sara on 11/1/2008 @ 8:08 P.M.

She is 7 lbs 3 oz and is 19 inches long. She is perfect with 10 fingers and 10 toes and has 1 inch of dark hair all over her head.

We can't wait to meet this special little girl in person.

Love you all

Marilee




The Blessed and Excited Parents



Welcome to the world Mary Jade



This is the probably the weirdest day of her life



We LOVE YOU Mary Jade



We love you sleeping angel...



Mary Jade with her Cousin Lily Jewel



Mama & baby



Sweet sleeping baby

This is Halloween.

Happy Fall:

For those of you that don't know from October to December is the favorite time of year for the Potter's. And the best holiday of them all is "HALLOWEEN".

Sara & I have been accused in the past of having Halloween throw up in our offices and home.

I have been known to go to Dept 56 in Downtown Disney and salivate and dream of having the Halloween village. If only I was a millionaire.

Since Sara got married we had to share custody of the Halloween decorations. It was very sad but I guess I have an excuse now to buy more decorations.

To start my off my favorite time of year I went up to Pismo Beach last weekend to visit Tom, Sue, Melissa and the girls. We decided we needed a fun start to Halloween.

The 1st thing we did was, go to the Fair Oaks to see Beverly Hills Chihuahua. For those of you that think it looks like a silly movie ( I was skeptical) you need to go see it. It was really funny and the George Lopez lines were even funnier.

Posing with the poster




Our next adventure was to go to the pumpkin patch at Avila Barn. Friday into Saturday we had rain and then wind so it was an absolutely beautiful day. We got to the Barn ( with everyone else) and waited for our turn to park. Our 1st stop was the petting zoo.



We met this cute cow. He was very friendly and gave one of the guys in line a big old kiss. He told Melissa it was like being licked by sandpaper.



Next were the ponies. But be careful they can bite.



We then all posed at the designated picture taking area. Ashley was very proud of her little pumpkin that she purchased so it is in many pictures. We were also very lucky because we brought Aunt Sue on our pumpkin patch adventure.




Family togetherness ^^^^^^^



Even more family togetherness ^^^^^^^^^^^



And more ^^^^^^^^^^^




And more. Yes we are now done with the designated picture area. But then I wanted you to see how many pumpkins there were.

There I am way behind the pumpkins.


There are Amanda and Ashley (must the baby pumpkin be in every picture :)



We then went on a hay ride. Okay flat beds hooked to a John Deere, but there was hay everywhere. We had great seats because we were on the very end of the flat bed so we avoided the dust that was kicked up.

Here is a view of the farm.


Melissa and I pose in our awesome Wal-Mart Halloween shirts. The shirts are really cool because the lights flash when you move. Sorry I can't demonstrate that.





How sad here are the pumpkins that no one wanted.




So while we were at the Avila Barn, Uncle Tom was haggling for the best deal on a new project.

He got himself this super cool picnic table and benches. (mind you it needs a little work, but I promise it will be a show piece when he is done with it.)



Uncle Tom, Ashley and the little pumpkin (again) pose with the table.





In the evening of the next day we had eaten a lot so we decided we needed to walk it off. We took a long walk to the Gazebo and then had to pose for more pictures.



Look at the beauty and the ocean to.



Here is Pelican rock where they all tuck in for the night. It was really SMELLY. But they were really fun to watch because they treated each other like brothers and sisters, pushing and shoving and squawking.

In tribute to Auntie. "What a wonderes bird is the Pelican
His beak can hold more than his belly can
He can hold in his beak enough food for a week
But I don't see how the Heli can. "



Ashley takes a break on a bench.



Amanda strikes a pose. But stop looking because she IS ONLY 13. :)



I took a picture of this decoration in Uncle Tom & Aunt Sue's house because it reminded me of Gran. Whenever we showed her our Halloween costumes she would always say. "S - P - O - O - K -Y" (Ask Sara & I if you want to know what it sounded like.)


So all in all it was a great weekend. I plan to spend many more there now that three of my favorite people live there. I hope everyone enjoys this time of year and really enjoys Halloween. Because there is no better Holiday.

Love you all, Marilee