GO MIA!!!

We are all so grateful for a successful surgery and recovery for Mia. What a difference a day makes--this is a photo of Mia taken at her sister Kaia's little  5th birthday celebration at CHOC (with my daughter, Auntie Dao) just over 24 hours ago. Her first time out of bed in four days.

   

And this is Ms. Mia playing with Kaia this afternoon.

   

She was moved out of the ICU this evening and will probably go home in just a few more days.

Modern medicine and many, many prayers work miracles. Thank you so much for all of your prayers.

Mary

Jones went almost an entire week without the P-A-R-K and he can't wait til things get back to normal...

Be well.

Mary and Jones (& Cole)

ALL BETTER

Mia had surgery today at 7 am. Everything went exactly as planned. Next step is radiation therapy (low dose and focused) and then she should be as good as new. Hopefully her pituitary will start to function at optimal levels now that the pressure is of--and best of all, there was no trace of malignancy. There she is above in her Mom's arms just 15 minutes after surgery.

And here she is sleeping in her own blankets. Thank you for all of your prayers--they were felt.

All is well.

I want to thank CHOC (Children's Hospital of Orange County)--no detail was neglected in the care of Mia and of her family. I have never experienced this amount of love, faith and hope--prayers for all of the sick babies that are made well here.

Mary

MIA UPDATE

Mia is having a wonderful time at CHOC--a big handsome future fireman and a college girl all to herself.

Mia is a little trooper--seems to like her forehead jewelry and hardly peeps when they draw blood. There  has been a minor delay in scheduling her surgery as some of her hormone levels are not where they should be. 

This is Mia's first time to have her Mommy all to herself without her older sisters Lauren (6) and Kaia (almost 5) sharing the spot light...she's loving it.

Mary

MIA UPDATE

Today brought new information and light into darkness. With the MRI on top of the CAT Scan, the team of doctors and surgeons believe that the mass is non-malignant although quite large and that it is contained. There was fear yesterday that she was loosing her eyesight, but the pediatric opthamologist could see a very healthy optic nerve. They were also concerned that the pituitary was compromised, but  it seems that all of her hormones are in the normal range. I am so grateful for these enormous blessings.

Surgery is scheduled for Wednesday. Little Mia and Grace will be staying at CHOC (Children's Hospital of Orange County) for the present. The hospital has been so embracing of all of us, making us welcome and providing anything that was needed. The nursing staff is of the highest caliber and Mia is happy. We are so fortunate that CHOC is in the top ten of Children's hospitals in the area of pediatric neurology and Mia's team is wonderful.

God is so gracious. Thank you for all of your prayers.

Be well.

Mary

MIA

  

Our precious Mia was diagnosed with a brain tumor this evening. Tomorrow will bring more information. Fortunately, the location is in the frontal lobe.

Prayers are needed. My usually very strong heart is not the brick that it usually is.

Mary

TODAY--THE BEST OF ALL MOTHER'S DAYS

It has been a rather funky two weeks. I feel as if I were in a time warp re-experiencing many events a second time. Very stressful, but I do think that I did better the second time around.  TODAY MADE UP FOR THE CRAZY STRESS OF THE PAST.......just look at the little beauties that I spent Mother's Day with. That is Lauren on the left and Kaia on the right and of course, Jones getting more love that he can handle. Fortunately, he was being very patient.

I also spent the day with Miss Mia and her dad....

The rest of the clan (the tooooo mature boys) didn't want to have their photos taken--the parents: Dao & Josh, Grace & James weren't too interested either.

We all cooked and spent a wonderful afternoon together doing nothing except relishing the moment.

Have a wonderful week...hopefully, this one will flow a little better.

Mary & Jones (& Cole)

BEFORE AND AFTER CHAUFFEUSE-----I KNOW, MORE CHAIRS

I've admitted to my CHAIR ADDICTION in previous posts.........but aren't these guys just begging for a make-over?? (Rebecca Minkoff doesn't get into trouble when she does make-overs, right?)

  

I purchased these sassy guys several months ago and have been obsessing over fabric choices: silk? velvet? toile? pattern? silk faille? Nothing seemed to work in my imagination. When all my other options fell by the wayside, I decided on a black Ralph Lauren very sturdy linen----of course, I had it in my textile/fabric stash all along.

Alex picked the chairs up a couple of weeks ago. Just looked what strutted their stuff walking in the door this afternoon! Once again I am in love--with the chauffeuses and with Alex. (I'll worry about the chair addiction later)

   

  

GORGEOUS!! N'EST PAS???

The French term for these chairs is "chauffeuse" which means fireside chairs. I guess we could call them slipper chairs and still be accurate. These chauffeuses are French Moderne in style and date to the1940's (I think) could be later, but not earlier. The frames were in almost perfect condition with the caning intact. Look at the "glam" Hollywood Regency gold and silver finish--still in great shape with normal patination.  (Do you think Dorothy Draper might have traveled to France?) Because I like to mix things up, I think that these guys would even work with fine period antique furniture to add a bit of lightness and humor. A boudoir with these guys would make anyone feel like dressing up. On either side of my 17th c. provincial side table, fantastic! Maybe placing this pair of 1930-1940 sconces (not a very good photo--I'll take a better one tomorrow) over the chauffeuses?

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I hope that your day was as creatively blessed as mine.

I want to thank Karena of artbykarena.blogspot.com for featuring me today. I am truly blessed and honored. Reading Karena's blog always deepens my knowledge of the art/creative arena, as well as the world in general.

Thanks for stopping by--wishing you the best of a gorgeous May Sunday.

Mary and Jones (& Cole)