Hi All,
It is another edition of “The Barnes Family Update.” Let’s begin with Christmas shall we?
It was another wonderful holiday for the family. Darryl’s parents and sister arrived on Boxing Day and to our pleasant surprise, Tucker remembered who they were and called them by name! We were totally amazed at this because he hasn't seen Auntie since May or Nana & Papa since September! He is our smart little boy! It is getting increasingly fun to watch Tucker as he grows, because he is starting to take notice in things more. Christmas was no exception. He couldn’t sleep on Christmas Eve. When he finally got up on Christmas morning he came running out into the living room shouting “Kissmas. Kissmas.” He ran to the gifts and started sitting on them! It was too funny. His faves this year had to be a Mega Blocks piano from Nana & Papa Barnes, the new Elmo doll from Mommy, Grammy Burton & Aunt Trula and his Hockey set (including 2 nets, 2 sticks and a ball) from Daddy. It didn’t take much teaching for him to start holding the stick the proper way and shout “SCORE” when someone shoots the ball in the net! Looks like Crystal's going to be a "Hockey Mom." Sometimes it is hard to believe that he is not quite 20 months yet!
Tucker is picking up new words every day. It is amazing to us as to what he can say. Things like: Precious, Unbelievable, Whoopsi Daisy, I love you, Please, Thank You and Welcome (as in you are welcome). The funniest though is when we got him to say “I Got You Babe.” My (Crystal's) dad says he is the sweetest baby ever born next to Jesus. We all laugh when he says it yet full knowing that we all think it’s true!
Maybe it is a good thing that we love Tucker so much. I know you are all probably thinking that’s a strange statement, but just bear with us. Tucker is the light of our lives. He is one of our deepest dreams come true. We are so thankful to God every day that He allowed us to have such a blessing. We have all said that it would be hard to imagine another little one coming into the picture. How could you love another the way we love Tucker? It seems that he has taken all the love we have and even more that we thought we could have. While I have heard many tell of the miracle it is to love more than one child deeply, totally, completely and uniquely, this is something that we now know with complete certainty that we will not get to experience ourselves.
In the past few weeks while waiting to get the results back from a series of tests done in November, it seems that all I have been hearing is the exciting news of babies being born, friends becoming pregnant (many with their second child) or hearing of heartbeats or belly pics of a progressing pregnancy. We are very happy and excited for our friends. This is wonderful news and we do not want to diminish our enthusiasm for them in any way. It is just hard to hear when we now know with 100 percent certainty that we will not be able to have anymore. Our dreams of having 3 children has now been taken away along with any hopes of adoption due to my medical issues.
I had to see the Rheumatologist on Monday. This is when the news became official. Another pregnancy would put my body through too much trauma and there is no way to know for sure what the effects of that would be until after the baby got here, pending that my body could even carry it to term. IF my body could carry a baby to full term even with no or minimal damage or strain to my organs, specifically the kidneys, I still have to have the stamina and strength to take care of the child once here. This is what the Rheumatologist says “they don’t tell you.” Many forget that the pregnancy in only one step. Being healthy enough to take care of the child is totally different.
As if the baby news weren't traumatic enough, it is just the beginning. Over Christmas my health has taken a decline. I have been quite ill, weak and sore. The test results from the Rheumatologist also showed some abnormalities different than before. With white blood cells a lot lower than they should be and large amounts of infection in my body along with other things, there is reason to be concerned. Over the next few months I will have to go through a battery of gastric, spinal and blood tests to find the source of the infection and ultimately rule out life threatening things such a bowel cancer. While the Rheumatologist feels strongly that it is the lupus causing all of the problems, it is routine to follow all avenues to be sure nothing gets missed or overlooked. " We don't mess around with low white blood cells," she says. It was also a triple bill of diagnoses as well. Because all avenues of testing show that along with and separate from the lupus is the conformation of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. So for me, Monday was a bad day!
Darryl also had to see the Doctor on Monday. His reports were what we all had been expecting and an official date of April 6 was made for him to have surgery on his gallbladder. The good news is that the surgery is just a day thing and he will be home later that night. The bad part of this is that he will be off work for about 3 weeks. While we are glad that Darryl will no longer be in pain, the loss of pay is going to be tough.
Our life right now seems to be full of challenges, but we are doing our best to keep the faith. "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
So, this has been our update. We are thankful for the email, facebook messages and prayers of all our family and friends. I am signing off for now, but this time with no promises for a speedy update. It just never seems to happen. So. . .
Until Then,
Crystal (Darryl, Tucker & Misty)
It is another edition of “The Barnes Family Update.” Let’s begin with Christmas shall we?
It was another wonderful holiday for the family. Darryl’s parents and sister arrived on Boxing Day and to our pleasant surprise, Tucker remembered who they were and called them by name! We were totally amazed at this because he hasn't seen Auntie since May or Nana & Papa since September! He is our smart little boy! It is getting increasingly fun to watch Tucker as he grows, because he is starting to take notice in things more. Christmas was no exception. He couldn’t sleep on Christmas Eve. When he finally got up on Christmas morning he came running out into the living room shouting “Kissmas. Kissmas.” He ran to the gifts and started sitting on them! It was too funny. His faves this year had to be a Mega Blocks piano from Nana & Papa Barnes, the new Elmo doll from Mommy, Grammy Burton & Aunt Trula and his Hockey set (including 2 nets, 2 sticks and a ball) from Daddy. It didn’t take much teaching for him to start holding the stick the proper way and shout “SCORE” when someone shoots the ball in the net! Looks like Crystal's going to be a "Hockey Mom." Sometimes it is hard to believe that he is not quite 20 months yet!
Tucker is picking up new words every day. It is amazing to us as to what he can say. Things like: Precious, Unbelievable, Whoopsi Daisy, I love you, Please, Thank You and Welcome (as in you are welcome). The funniest though is when we got him to say “I Got You Babe.” My (Crystal's) dad says he is the sweetest baby ever born next to Jesus. We all laugh when he says it yet full knowing that we all think it’s true!
Maybe it is a good thing that we love Tucker so much. I know you are all probably thinking that’s a strange statement, but just bear with us. Tucker is the light of our lives. He is one of our deepest dreams come true. We are so thankful to God every day that He allowed us to have such a blessing. We have all said that it would be hard to imagine another little one coming into the picture. How could you love another the way we love Tucker? It seems that he has taken all the love we have and even more that we thought we could have. While I have heard many tell of the miracle it is to love more than one child deeply, totally, completely and uniquely, this is something that we now know with complete certainty that we will not get to experience ourselves.
In the past few weeks while waiting to get the results back from a series of tests done in November, it seems that all I have been hearing is the exciting news of babies being born, friends becoming pregnant (many with their second child) or hearing of heartbeats or belly pics of a progressing pregnancy. We are very happy and excited for our friends. This is wonderful news and we do not want to diminish our enthusiasm for them in any way. It is just hard to hear when we now know with 100 percent certainty that we will not be able to have anymore. Our dreams of having 3 children has now been taken away along with any hopes of adoption due to my medical issues.
I had to see the Rheumatologist on Monday. This is when the news became official. Another pregnancy would put my body through too much trauma and there is no way to know for sure what the effects of that would be until after the baby got here, pending that my body could even carry it to term. IF my body could carry a baby to full term even with no or minimal damage or strain to my organs, specifically the kidneys, I still have to have the stamina and strength to take care of the child once here. This is what the Rheumatologist says “they don’t tell you.” Many forget that the pregnancy in only one step. Being healthy enough to take care of the child is totally different.
As if the baby news weren't traumatic enough, it is just the beginning. Over Christmas my health has taken a decline. I have been quite ill, weak and sore. The test results from the Rheumatologist also showed some abnormalities different than before. With white blood cells a lot lower than they should be and large amounts of infection in my body along with other things, there is reason to be concerned. Over the next few months I will have to go through a battery of gastric, spinal and blood tests to find the source of the infection and ultimately rule out life threatening things such a bowel cancer. While the Rheumatologist feels strongly that it is the lupus causing all of the problems, it is routine to follow all avenues to be sure nothing gets missed or overlooked. " We don't mess around with low white blood cells," she says. It was also a triple bill of diagnoses as well. Because all avenues of testing show that along with and separate from the lupus is the conformation of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia. So for me, Monday was a bad day!
Darryl also had to see the Doctor on Monday. His reports were what we all had been expecting and an official date of April 6 was made for him to have surgery on his gallbladder. The good news is that the surgery is just a day thing and he will be home later that night. The bad part of this is that he will be off work for about 3 weeks. While we are glad that Darryl will no longer be in pain, the loss of pay is going to be tough.
Our life right now seems to be full of challenges, but we are doing our best to keep the faith. "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28
So, this has been our update. We are thankful for the email, facebook messages and prayers of all our family and friends. I am signing off for now, but this time with no promises for a speedy update. It just never seems to happen. So. . .
Until Then,
Crystal (Darryl, Tucker & Misty)
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1 comments:
Hey Crystal,
Thanks for sharing this, I can imagine you guys have had a rough few weeks. I will keep praying for you guys! You are both terrific parents and Tucker is a truly blessed little boy!
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