Lexi's Birthmarks...In Photos

Here's a side photo of Lexi. The under the skin birthmark is on the other side
but you can see where it hangs down.

This was when Lexi was 1 year old. You can see where it's "swollen" and under the folds
of her neck is a flat but very red spot. When she got sick it would swell up even more
and get so hot to the touch you felt horrible for her.

This was when Lexi was almost turning two I think. You can see all the loose skin.

Here is one of her red strawberry marks. See how bright red it is? She had one on the side of her leg, tummy, outside of hand, inside of hand and the top of her head. The only one you can really see these days at age 5 is the one on her tummy. AMAZING that they just shrink up
and the bright red goes away.

Here she is for Halloween when she was 2 or 3. You can see that the skin is starting to shrink up and is not so loose. She was not happy in this photo. Mom wanted to take photos
before going to a party but she wanted nothing to do with that!!!

Lexi - Part Two

Here is Lexi when it was very swollen. It's also the first time I could get her hair
into piggie tails!!! How cute is she? Love the binkie also!!!

It was very pronounced in this photo also. We got very
lucky that the birthmark
wasn't red all over like some of them can be.

Sweet little girl!!!!

She was almost one in this picture.

Like I said in one of my previous post's I know this is not the worst thing that could of happened to my child. I just want anyone that's on the net and searching for info about birthmarks to be able to find this. These kind do shrink and the redness goes away.
It's a blessing that we are very thankful for!!!

Chase and Wolfie Disneyland 2004

They went on this ride about 20 times in a row......Crazy BOYS!!!

They had the get the perfect photo on this ride!!

Retro Photos of the Week

How freaky are these glasses I'm wearing? Did I already post this photo? Rob's still
got the leather jacket. We were Christmas caroling in San Francisco. We jumped
on the trolley cars and rode from the embarcadero to Union Square.

This is true. I went and was scared for my life. Anyone want to guess
how old I was when I went?

Nice outfit for picture day huh? Did my mom think I was Heidi from Sweden?
I also love the hair flipping on one side. I planned that I'm sure.....LOL

This is Tam and I on the Girls Mexico Cruise in 2000. This was at one of the
dinners and I was smiling cause I had just ordered 4 lobster, 2 prime rib, 2 ceasar
salads and 3 filet mignon!!!

AWWW Baby Shower Dinner!!!!

We had a girls night out for a good friend of our's. Brandy is having a little girl so we went crazy with the pink!!! You can never go wrong with a pink/white penguin/snowman hat!!!
She is due in 2 weeks and looks soooooooo good!!!!

A few of the peeps!!!!! Vick, Jo and SJ Denim

Yeah I'm wearing a broach so what? Shrek can't wear a broach?

The mama, Tam and Shrek

We went to Fuzios and it was soooo tasty!!! We all wish Brandy the best of luck
when her baby girl is born!!! I'm guessing a little 6 pound girlie!!!

Smile for the self portrait!!!! I'm really back to my
Dutch Boy look these days!!!

Girls Baby Shower Part Deux

She's due in 2 weeks? Yeah right!!! She's got that beautiful glow of pregnancy!!!

Yeah Julie it's a photo of my coffee!!!! What can I say.....I'm artsy!!! LOL

Pasta Alfuzio....it's the only thing I ever order there.....never venture out!!!

Beautiful hydrangea to dry in the babies room!!!

Ten for Tuesday

Okay here's the time to get TAGGED! List 10 things on your blog that you love about the holidays:

1. It's my birthday on the 21st
2. I love snowmen so much that I don't think I have even ONE Santa in the house
3. I love that my kids get so excited everytime we get the holiday decor out each year
4. The nice chilly weather....not so hot!!! Although HOT will be good this summer!!!
5. Christmas Shopping!
6. Hiding everything from my kids
7. Keeping the secret alive
8. Did I mention it's my birthday on the 21st?
9. Kitty will do my hair on the 21st!!! I love Kitty!!!
10. Just being around good friends

Hemangioma Birthmarks-Lexi's Story

One thing I wanted to talk about on my blog was Lexi's birthmarks. They were very pronounced when she was younger and now the one left is shrinking. When they started to come to the surface of her skin I was so surprised. They were not there at birth and when she was about 1- 2 months old started to show. Her Aunt Karen called them her special rubies. She had about 6-7 of the BRIGHT red strawberry marks on her hands, head, leg, tummy. The description of those are:

Strawberry Hemangioma Vascular malformation. Red, soft, raised appearance. Size varies. May be present at birth or first few weeks thereafter. Will grow, but start to fade (involute), turn grey in color. Usually disappear between ages 5-10. Surgery might be necessary to remove – depending on size and location of lesion. Other treatments - compression and massage, steroids, X-ray therapy, laser therapy, cryotherapy, or injection of hardening agents.

She also had a big and very noticable one under the skin on her
cheek/neck area. It's called a:

Cavernous Hemangioma Bluish or bluish-red in color. Lumpy mass. Borders not visible as with other hemangiomas. Grows fast during first 6 months- then slows 95% disappear
by 10-12 years of age. Treatments are the same as for strawberry hemangioma.

People used to stop me and ask me what was wrong with my baby. It made me feel so self conscious because on a daily basis I had really forgot how big it had gotten. One day at Wal Mart I had a lady come up to me with tears in her eyes. She placed her hand on my arm and said she wanted to pray for my baby with me. Even though it sounds INSANE I bowed my head and prayed with her.

We took Lexi to the doctor for an ultrasound of her internal organs making sure there were not any growing inside and thankfully there were none. Although I love and trust her Pediatrician I asked for referralal to a specialist. We took a trip to Oakland Kaiser and saw a very nice doctor who measured her cheek/neck and really gave us hope that it would shrink and if it didn't plastic surgery when she got older would be acceptable. It continued to grow and her strawberry's stayed bright red for the first 2 years of her life. When she was sick her cheek/neck would be so hot to the touch. It would also get bigger when she was sick and that was a sure sign she didn't have just a cold but a flu or other sickness. The worst time was when she had the chicken pox. She looked miserable. I will be posting photos as soon as I get them all together. Everytime we took her to the doctor the check in nurse would ask "What's the growth on her neck?" UMMM Hello we have been here numerous times and your still asking? :-)

Now that she's 5 they have all but faded. There is still some loose skin on her cheek/neck but it's hardly noticeable anymore. It's amazing that she had BRIGHT red spots on her and now you can't even see them. The one on her tummy is still there but not nearly as pronounced.

This isn't the biggest and most horrible thing that could of happened to one of my children. We are extremely thankful for that. When I was researching this health topic I would get online and try to find all the before/after photos that I could. It gave me hope. I want to post Lexi's photos for parents that are just beginning the journey.

Be sure to bookmark this blog and check back soon!!! Thanks for reading if
you got this far!!!

Tired of being on the phone?

I found this cool website that gives you the cheat codes for getting farther along
on automated phone systems. I have not tried it yet but looks very promising!!


IVR Cheat Sheet by Paul English

http://paulenglish.com/ivr/


Write back and let me know how it works!!!

Sleepy Girls

Lucy and Lexi fell fast asleep last night. Lexi LOVES the dogs and
just cuddled up to Lucy and went night night.

Candy Cane Lane.....

We took a trip to Candy Cane Lane tonight!!! The kids always love it. Most all the houses on
Candy Cane Lane were lit up and it looks like Lollipop Lane is still working on it.






Can you believe these people? They hardly did anything......Just joking....it's my house!!! This is about all we will do around the outside of the house for lights. I might put some on the new fences but that's about it.

Nonnie and her kiddos!!!

Here is my mom and her grandkids.....ages 5,10,14 and 16!! This was on Thanksgiving. She always likes to take a picture of her and the kids with their holiday hats on!!!

A Welcome from Steph

Our Wonderful Thanksgiving.......

Sometimes I go into our Thanksgiving day not knowing what the day will hold. This year was very nice, mellow and best of all everyone got along!

I hosted a brunch at my house and cooked a few dishes. I love strata and found this web site http://www.bbonline.com/recipe/index.html that's loaded with tons of recipe's
from bed & breakfast's all over the USA. They turned out great and my favorite
was the bacon one in the first picture. I used white french bread cut into chunks on the
bottom with green onions, bacon, lots of cheese, half & half and more cheese.

This is a egg strata that uses frozen hash browns instead of bread at the bottom. I made this one really plain because I didn't know if the kids would like the bacon one. It was a little too plain and next time I would add lots more to it. Still yummy!!!

One can't have a nice brunch without fresh crossiants!

Here's my official kids table!!! That's my niece and nephew and my kids! It kind
of freaks me out that the kids are getting so big!! Rob and I started dating
when my niece was still in my sisters tummy....she's almost 17!! It's a nice way
to remind us all how old we are getting!!! LOL :-)

Our family thanksgiving was very nice ! My neighbor from across the street joined us for brunch and it was nice to have a full table to give thanks for!!

T2

Here's little girl waiting to scarf out some Turkey!!!

My nephew is getting so big!!! He looked so handsome in his polo shirt!! It's nice to
see him out of a basketball jersey every now and then!!!

Oh wow....don't know where this picture came from...LOL ..I took the doors off 2 kitchen cabinets and painted the inside high gloss white. I really love the look!! Do you?

My beautiful niece!! She's a junior in high school so we only have 2 years to enjoy her
till she starts another chapter in her life...COLLEGE!!!

Oh wow....another shot of my newly painted cabniets!!! LOL

T3 Cont........

I found little girl in her room reading and playing for quite sometime by herself.
Notice Paris next to her taking a morning nap!!!

A mans place is...........in the kitchen!!! LOL Here's Rob cleaning up after a
wonderful dinner at his parents house. His nephew is 1/2 in the picture also.

Here's the centerpiece at my in laws house. My kids made the pilgrim hats a few years ago
for their grandma. It was a lovely traditional thanksgiving meal and we ate till we
could eat no more. Dessert was 3 pies made by my sister in law and they were yummy!!
The best part of the day for my kids was a German dog that was visiting that only understood German commands.

This is Wolfie on T-morning displaying his Xango!! He loves it so much
I should get him to sell it for us!!! He wanted me to blog him!!

We (HEART) Checky Cheese

I can really only handle Chucky Cheese ones in the fall and once in the spring. It's something about the blaring screaming of kids as they run by and a mouse in a suit. My kids have come to count on going twice a year. We headed over there this week for three hours!!! Yes they gave me a supermom patch for my jean jacket as we left. LOL

They have really done a much better job on the pizza they make there. Also when you take more than one kiddo with you don't forget the SHARPIE marker so you can write their
names on their ticket bags, drinks and token cups!!

Buddies!!!! None of them beat up Chucky in his suit so we had a good trip!! :-)

Group shot!!! When leaving Chucky Cheese most parents are
thrilled but the kids are always so sad.....

GIVE US MORE TOKENS OR WE WILL HAVE TANTRUMS NOW!!

The bubble boy!!

Black and White Photos....Chucky Tribute....