For Heart's Sake...

March 25 will mark the second anniversary of Brad's Aortic Dissection. I was sitting here today thinking of how different my life would be if he hadn't of made it. I would have been a widow at 28 years old and lost my very best friend. But, not only that, but I would have lost Cassandra and never had known the joy and immense love for my son. I am so thankful for the work done by Amy Yasbeck. As she sits and awaits a verdict in her wrongful death suit for her husband, John Ritter, (See the news article here) I pray that she gets the verdict she desrves. No one deserves to lose their spouse at such a young age, and their daughter, Stella, definitely doesn't deserve to go through life not really knowing much about her father who loved her.

When Brad had his dissection, they almost just sent him home. They knew it wasn't a heart attack. They were about to assume that it was just a case of indigestion. Luckily, the doctor performed a cat scan as one last check. That last thing determined his fate. The doctor told me personally that the only reason Brad had a chance of survival was because of Amy Yasbeck and her earlier lawsuits. Now, most hospitals include a check for aortic dissection before sending home people who complain of chest pain.

Please send out your prayers and good vibes for Amy and this trial. A win would not just mean her getting the money she deserves, but it will bring aortic health awareness to the public and the health establishment.

This is what I am thankful for today:


***UPDATE***
Amy did not win her fight against the doctors. I do feel bad for her, but I know she is doing ok. I know that there are a lot of people who thought she was just going through with the suit for the money, but if you had spoken to her you would know the truth.

When Brad spoke to her this morning, just a couple of hours before the verdict, she said she just wanted it all to end. Now, this trying time is over for her, thank goodness, and she can go on with raising her daughter and promoting the John Ritter Foundation.

Better late than never!

So, it has been so long since I have blogged here that I forgot my password! I thought I would do a month-by-month update, but try not to make it take too long. The last thing I wrote about was Halloween, so I guess I will start from after there.

November:
The only thing I really remember from November, of course, is Thanksgiving. We had a really nice time. Cassandra was at her mom's, so Brad, Harrison and I headed over to the Colson's and enjoyed our Thanksgiving dinner. The dinner was delicious. We all played Apples to Apples and then Catch Phrase. Now, when I say we all played, I mean it. Even Larry and Brad played and I know they had a really good time playing. Brad,Larry and I were on a team together for Catch Phrase and we totally kicked butt!

December:
What a fun month! I had a cookie party with a couple of friends and it was such a nice time. Karen, Robyn, Meridyth and Martha came. It was a small, but perfect group. We exchanged cookies, ate some yummy dinner and just enjoyed a lovely time of relaxation and fellowship. I hope we can do it again next year.
The Saturday after that Brad, Harrison and I headed on over to the Aceves' house in Orange County. I rarely actually talk to Rick anymore (who I have known since our Mt. Sac days) but talk with his wife, Jessica, online all the time. Again, this was another nice evening. We had a little barbeque and talked babies! Rick and Jessica had a little girl named Audrey in September and she is just too adorable.
Then, the very next day (What a weekend!!), we had our annual Open House. The house was all decked out and pretty. Brad did such a good job. We had a really nice time, but were really busy. We did all the food this year and that was a little tiring. It was nice to celebrate with friends! The Sullivans were also in town during this time, which was great! I always enjoy when they visit.
We had Christmas with the Colsons on the 20th. It was a nice time and Harrison was really liking the presents! He didn't really get it, but enjoyed playing with the bags, paper and a DVD that I received! It is always nice to spend time with the Colsons and I was happy we all made time to get together.
Christmas Day! We had a really nice time again! I was very excited for Harrison's first Christmas! By Christmas, he was already crawling all over the place. He really liked helping opening presents. We opened our stockings first with the traditional Leonard stockings (Harrison got a cute one this year too!). Then Grandma Pat came over and we opened all of our gifts and had our Christmas meal. Cassandra got two really amazing gifts, a cell phone and tickets to see Wicked (with Grandma). She couldn't have been more excited. I was so happy that she had the Christmas spirit back in her. This was her first year not believing in Santa and she was a little bit down about it.
Last thing in December, Brad and I went to Las Vegas for 2 1/2 days to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. We had a great room at the Venetian and we went to see "O" by Cirque de Soleil. It was a great and relaxing couple of days. It was our first time leaving Harrison, so that was a little hard on me. But, Karen was babysitting him (bless her) and she was really good about texting me pictures and messages the whole time; it made the separation so much easier.

January
At the beginning of January, Brad's grandmother passed away. She had been very ill for a long time, so we knew it was only a matter of time. But, it was still quite sad. We packed up the whole family and went to Utah for about a week. It was a beautiful service. We were able to spend time with family, which is usually nice, but was a little awkward this time. Unfortunately, Brad really kind of keeps to himself and shuts down when Tina is around, and so we were kind of distant from everyone, which is kind of sad. But, we enjoyed some time as a family together and Cassandra played in the snow. But, when we came home I was ready. On the bright side, Harrison did awesome on both plane rides...he slept the whole time.
Cassandra and Joan went to see Wicked at the beginning of the month. They just loved it! It really is such a wonderful production! It is March now and Cassandra is still Wicked obssessed! She sings it and quotes it all the time.
The only other thing that really happened in January is that we hired a nanny. Her name is Carianne and we adore her, she had been such a blessing to our family.

February
So February was Cold Stone month! Brad, Harrison, Carianne and I took off to Arizona for a week of training at Kahala (Cold Stone Headquarters). I was preparing myself for a boring time, but it was great! It was more about people management than anything and I learned so much. We actually had a wonderful time and met some great people! We took over our store on February 18 and it has been such a ride since! It is fun, but soooo much work! Our friends and family night went off great and had a wonderful turnout. I was stupid though and forgot to take pictures after the last 20 minutes! Oh Well!
Brad also turned 35 this month. We celebrated at the friends and family night and then the four of us went to Claim Jumper for dinner. He got a gift certificate for a massage, so I know he is looking forward to that!

So, that is the jist of it. In other news, Harrison is growing so fast it is scaring me! He is a pro crawler and cruiser. He sometimes stands on his own too. He is an active and sometimes stubborn little guy. I just adore him more and more. He is really getting his own voice and is also such a cuddler.

I am doing well in school and everything is pretty status quo with that. Work is busy as ever as I have taken on the duties of Classified Senate president.

I have to have a neck scan on Monday to prepare for my upcoming parathyroidectamy surgery. I still don't have a date for that, but I am guessing in May or June sometime.

That's about it, but I will try to be more consistent with this stuff later.

Pumpkins are Scary!!

Today, Cassandra, Harrison, Grandma and I went down to the Pumpkin Patch. Despite the ridiculously high prices...we had a pretty good time. We spent some time in the petting zoo and Cassandra went on an ATV ride. We spent some time amongst the pumpkins, but Harrison did not like them at all. He just cried every time we went near them...Is there a name for a phobia of pumpkins?? Anyways, we had a nice time and Cassandra took home a caramel apple. Next year I think it will be even more fun when Harrison can walk around.

Oh Baby!

Harrison is growing so fast, I can hardly believe it. I just adore him so much. He is "talking" more and more. He loves to stand up (with our help of course) and giggling is his favorite pastime. This past weekend he went to a birthday party and had a great time.

I am hoping that we will get to take both of the kids to the pumpkin patch this weekend, they would both enjoy it. We did get their costumes in the mail the other day and they are so cute! I am having their pictures taken in them, so I will post them once I get them back. I am actually really excited for Halloween this year.

That's about it for now. Until later...

Let the good times roll...

Last weekend was my big 30th birthday celebratory bash! I wasn't too distraught about turning 30, I think I was even pretty excited about it. It has sunk in and I am still pretty happy about it. I may have not achieved all of my goals, but I am happy and well.

For my birthday, several of my friends and myself went out to Dar Maghreb, a Moroccan restaurant in Los Angeles. Despite EVERYONE, including myself, being late we had a really fun time. At this restaurant everyone at your table gets served the same thing, family style, with no silverware. There were seven courses and each were delicious!!

Throughout the evening belly dancers came to our table to perform. I was a little bummed that the girls weren't as chunky as I thought they should be, but they were fun (Brad loved them!!).Everyone that came was great! I am pretty sure that we had a good time.

Ponderings of a snob...

So, I have come to the conclusion that I am a bonafide snob.

I am losing the ability to spend great deals of time with people who feel that a great conversation is all dick and fart jokes. Sure, there is a time and a place...but really! Also, I am quite annoyed with people who think the only way to have fun is to go out and get drunk. I am not saying I need to talk about the validity of the superstring theory, in fact I would prefer to avoid that. But, I would like to talk about things other than life drama. Let's talk about a great book, or a personal view, culture, travelling, movies, the theater!

I think that I definitely have a preference for educated associates. Now that may seem odd since neither my husband or myself are degree holding scholars by any means (although, I will obtain this goal soon). But, I don't necessarily think that you have to hold a degree to be educated. Brad is highly educated because he has a deep love of learning and he loves to talk about what he learns. That is what I love!

So I pose the question, Am I a horrible person for feeling this way??

Crafton BBQ

Yesterday, we had a welcome back bbq for all the staff at Crafton. It was a pretty nice time. The food was ok, but hey its free! Anyway, a bunch of us who have had babies in the past six months got together and brought our babies along with us. The "Crafton Babies" were born between March and August. I am lucky enough to count most of them as my friends. It was a lot of fun to have all of them together, hopefully this won't be the last time! I feel kind of bad because I really wanted to hang out with Karen more and talk, but it was a little crazy with all the people that were there.