Merry Christmas!

From our family to all of you

As with most other families, things have been crazy and hectic at the Balint residence.

Between school events, Christmas parties and just the pure and simple excitement of Christmas, we are finally enjoying some relaxation!  The kids are on their second pajama day in a row and I have no intention of changing that.  :)

But as always, when the schedule gets too out of whack, and the excitement level too high, Leah suffers.  I had hoped that the pj days would help, but I think it was too little too late.  Today the poor thing is crawling throughout the house because her heads hurts so much and she is so dizzy she can't walk.  She was also up throughout the night and in bed with me but very restless.  She has finally succumbed to the cold that the other kids had, so that is making matters worse.  Her little system is completely confused right now.

The girls also reminded me that I hadn't given an update on Ronald McDonald House yet.  So here goes...

We collected enough items to put together

• 30 toiletry bags for the parents.  Inside each were a toothbrush, toothpaste, deodorant, shampoo, conditioner and a little baggie of Hersey's Kisses.  These went to Ronald McDonald House (RMH)
• 10 bags of just deodorant, toothbrush and toothpaste for the Ronald McDonald Family Room (RMFR)at McMaster
• a large gift bag filled with toothbrushes and toothpaste for both sites
• paper goods (plates, cups, napkins), cereal, snacks, hot chocolate, suckers, juice boxes, crackers for the RMFR
• paper goods (plates, cups, napkins) cereal, snacks, pasta, sauce, cake mixes, icing, canned veggies, soups, crackers, suckers, hot chocolate, etc for RMH

The girls were so pleased with their efforts, they decorated the bags and boxes and picked a nice big totebag to carry it all in.  We attached these little cards to each of the bags.

And here are the girls dropping off the donations to RMH and the RMFR at McMaster.  They received such overwhelming thanks from the volunteers that they are already thinking of ways to do it again!

Again, to everyone that helped us accumulate the items for this donation, thank you from us and from the staff and volunteers at Ronald McDonald House - it was all very much appreciated!

A Princess and her Castle

After a busy and very exciting weekend, followed by a busy and exciting Monday, Leah is having a TERRIBLE Tuesday! Seizures, sleep disturbances, blurry vision, headache, weepy, tired, cold. She is obviously staying home from school. She had been doing so well too.

At least she was interested in learning more about what is going on with her. I gave her this analogy.

She needs to think of her body like a castle that is under attack(germs, viruses, etc) all the time. Inside the castle there are defenders(anti bodies) who run around defending against the attackers. Sometimes the walls of the castle are weakened by mysterious forces (sickness, stress, overtiredness etc) High in the tower(brain) is the princess. She has special protectors(Keppra). Sometimes the defenders are so eager to do a good job defending the castle that they get confused and start attacking the things that live in the castle too. When this happens the princess's special protectors help to keep her safe but sometimes, the confused defenders fight them as well. And as skirmishes breakout thoughout the tower different things(symptoms) happen.

This started a long conversation but she finally seems to "get it". Of course by this afternoon she may not remember we even had the conversation! But at least I will be able to refer back to it :)