Ultrasound Dec 19

18 weeks. The baby is doing fine. Everything was within the normal range. We did NOT find out the gender of the baby. His or her little legs were together the whole time. The Tech said there was a suspicious spot that might be a boy but would not commit. I think she was just talking because Sheila was so "crazy" to know the sex. We will go back in 3 weeks for another Dr. appt. but will not have another ultrasound for at least a couple more weeks after that. Looks like late January before we find out for sure. Sheila's blood pressure was a little high so we are going to cut back on her salt addiction. You guys have to help over Christmas. See you in about 10 days.

Jessie Update

Hey Y'all. Jessie is doing better. They said they wanted her on the antibiotic for ten days. Well ten days was yesterday. Now they are saying that hopefully on Christmas Eve she can get off the antibiotic and get her pic-line removed. Last week the infection had clearly gone down, but seemed to settle in two seperate areas. They were both absessed, so the doctor had to cut her leg to release the infection. He said these were the deepest absesses he had ever seen. Once he cut her leg open the thing erupted. It was like St. Helens exploding again. People in Southern Washington started to migrate North. It was also very disgusting. It looked like Tomato Soup with lots of Cheese, and I bet you could have filled a Family size can with all the infection that came out. After they did that for a while they filled in the holes in her leg with packing strip. They used a foot of packing strip for each hole. She has had to go back and get the packing strip replaced every day since (it has been about five days now), and finally today they said it is not leaking as much, and she may only have to do this for a couple more days. The process of packing the wound is a very painful process, and the only more painful part is when the numb up her leg to pack it. So Jessie has done it with and without the numbing, but she couldn't tell you which is worse. I think the numbing hurts more at the time, but without it it seems to hurt longer, but what do I know. Anyway She is getting better, and hopefully by Christmas she will be a free woman or at least free of an IV line constantly cramping her style. Thank you all for your prayers and concern.

Flesh eating bacteria

Hey all, let me give a report on my poor wife. Not only does she have to put up with me on a daily basis, but she is also suffering from some crazy bad infection. When she got home from North Dakota she had some weird infection of sorts on her ankle, but thinking it to be nothing serious we did not worry about it. Last Friday the infection started to grow rapidly up her leg. However, Brooklyn was scheduled to have her tonsils taken out on Monday, so Jessie did not want to do anything until after Beakers surgery, and recovery. Jessie was running extremely high fevers ( like 104 degrees), she had the chills somethin' aweful all weekend. So after Brookies surgery on Monday we took Jessie to the Urgent Care. They gave her a couple shots in tuckish, and told her to keep her leg elevated and stay off her feet. We subsequently went in for hiny shots on Tuesday and Wednesday. They also had her on an oral antibiotic. Unfortunately, the infection has kept growing, so they sent us to the hospital for an IV. After six needle pokes they finally got the IV in her arm, and here we sit while she is receiving her treatment. Her leg is in horrible pain, and I'm afraid I'm not very good at taking care of her, although I try. This infection is the same stuff that can eventually lead to what they call flesh eating bacteria if it gets into the tissues of your body. That is very unlikely though, but the infection is still very serious. They tell us she will have to have the IV twice a day for at least ten days. Luckily they are going to give he a pic line and send us home with packets of the IV so we can do the treatments at home, but we have to get the packets from the hospital each day. The worst part of it all is that why we are sitting here waiting for the IV to finish, Jessie is making me watch Project Runway.

german pancakes

The other morning I made german pancakes for the kids, just like mom used to make, with the orange syrup and everything.  The pancakes got mixed reviews from the kids, but for me the reminiscence was delicious.

Sheila and Charlie update

OK, not much going on. There was a guest poet at Tusculum Thursday night. Sheila went to that and I babysat for one of the other couples in the Eng. dept. Then they had a social after for the poet and student and faculty at the house where I was babysitting so I got to attend. Friday night was game night in Jonesborough and Saturday was a Christmas party and game night in Kingsports. Today we rested.
Travel news. We will be going to my Mom's house a couple of days before Christmas. Our ultrasound is the 21st so probably the next day. Then we will drive to Nashville and fly to Utah on the 28th. Our flight arrives late so we will probably stay in SLC area that night and drive to Dutch John the next day. Then we fly back to Nashville on Jan 5th and go back to my Mom's for Bree. We will probably stay that night and then go back to Greeneville the next day. We will probably miss the Atlanta GameFest since it is the 5th - 8th. This is the game con your Dad and others have attended the last few years. I don't think anyone is going this year.
After that, school will start for Sheila and I will have to find a job.
See you in a few weeks.

happy birthday to alli

Happy Birthday to Me! Happy Birthday to Me! I am turning 11 on December 12. 8 more days. Yippee!

kids are great!

This weekend we got to watch Alli swim in her first Vernal Vipers swim meet.  She did so great!  It is so much fun watching your kids figure out who they are and what they enjoy.  Alli has really taken off with this swimming thing, she loves it so much.  They practice three times a week, and have meets a couple times a month.  It keeps her very busy but she loves every second of it.
It is exciting as a parent when your children find something they love so much and excel at.  I get so excited at her meets, I bite my nails, and scream.  We made posters and really cheered her on.
It has been fun for me to take Everett to his basketball camps as well.  I know he is young, but he dribbles and passes so well, I really think basketball is his sport. I was hoping he would be a baseball guy, but he gets so excited for basketball, and when he gets home, he gets his ball and practices some more in the kitchen.
I can't wait to see what things my other kids will decided to do.  We will keep trying different things until they finally discover the one that they really love.  Being a parent is so great, it is just as fun for me to watch my kids compete as it was when I was competing.

I can not wait for Jita's wedding! It will be so cool!:)

Hi Guys!

Hi you guys! I am now a official member and contributor of "heresthecheeseandsprinkles.com"

(p.s. This is Alli.)

Letters to the kids

Hi,

This post won't be as boring as Clint's, I hope.
I had an idea to send all of the kids a personal letter. No birthday message or Christmas card just a plain old letter telling them how Sheila and I are doing, asking them about school, stuff like that. I know most of the adults don't get real letters anymore so I think this will be something a little special for the kids. I will decorate the envelopes and address them to each kid. The problem with this plan is that I do not know a single address for anyone in the family. Sheila had them in her laptop but it crashed. Please send your family's address to me in private message on facebook or to my email wkusau at gmail dot com. Thanks.

Charlie

It's a BOY

Hey all,

We just found out that we are having a BOY!

I just wanted to add something

Everybody else has super exciting and awesome things happening in their lives. They can post on this blog about fun stuff, and I was feeling a little left out. So with that in mind I want you all to know that nothing new or exciting is going to be mentioned in this post. I just wanted to join in on the fun. My family is fine, work is good etc. Yep absolutely nothing new. Actually I am working on a parody of sound of silence by Simon and garfunkel. It is about the lack of kids these days having genuine face to face conversations and using technology to communicate thus creating the sounds of silence. I know it is ironic that I tell you about this in a blog, but it's not as ironic as rain on your wedding day ( I hope that does not jinx you Johnita). The only line I have written for the song is "and the words of the children were written on their facebook walls..." If you would like to contribute to this awesome parody please do so.
P.S. I wrote this whole post on my IPod.

Christmas is Coming!

Hey family! As Christmas approaches, it's time to start getting excited about our annual Christmas Super Party! I took it upon myself to do the drawing for the presents and here's the line up. I'd like to add a special welcome to the two newest members of the Morton Party-Charlie and Colin, and look forward to welcoming a couple more youngun's to the list next year. I'm so grateful for how close our family is, and how committed we are to making sure we stay that way. After the Morton Birthday Bash that we had a few weeks ago Colin said "Just so you know, I'm really excited to be a Morton." I'm really happy to be part of such an enviable family, and one that is always ready to welcome someone new. I love you all!

Giver-Receiver
Sheila-Johnita
Charlie-Ruby
Ross-Charlie
Heidi-Sean
Ruby-Angela
Sean-Jessie
Angela-Angel
Carl-Colin
Jenny-Ross
Clint-Jenni
Jessie-Sheila
Johnita-Heidi
Colin-Wayne
Angel-Clint
Wayne-Carl

Alli-Brookie
Macie-Abbi
Everett-Miles
Porter-Lexi
Nora-Ashlyn
Ashlyn-Madi
Gracie-Alli
Abbi-Everett
Madi-Porter
Lexi-Macie
Brookie-Gracie
Miles-Nora

Sheila's Week

Hey Brothers & Sisters,
I think a Blog is a great idea.  Sometimes I lose track of you guys on Facebook because I don't check it daily and your posts get buried down the line. But here, it will ONLY be you guys, so I won't ever lose your doings again.

My baby is 5 weeks and 1 day today. Sometime this week, her little heart is going to start beating. Isn't that amazing? This is what she looks like. She has flippers for hands, and she has a tail. Her head is disproportionately huge, but that's because she's just developed a brain stem and spinal cord. She's kind of ugly right now, I know. But she'll be beautiful soon!

always something awesome!

I love being part of a big, (huge actually) family.  A couple days ago my sister Johnita called, she was calling to let me know that she had gotten engaged.  We all knew it was coming, but I was still very excited for her.  It was fun to here her excitement and to think about all the good things that are coming her way that she doesn't even know about yet, that 12 twelve years of marriage have revealed to me.  Congratulations Johnita, that's awesome!
Shortly after I got off the phone with Johnita my brother Sean called, He called to tell me that his wife, Angela, is pregnant with their third child.  It was great to here his excitement as well.  It will be fun to see if they get another beautiful little girl, or if Sean finally gets his little ball baby boy.  Congratulations Sean, that's awesome!
The very next day my sister Sheila called, she was calling to tell me that she was also pregnant.  Of course she was also very excited.  She has no idea what she is in for, but she also has no idea how much joy and love a little baby can bring.  She is going to be a great mom.  It will be so fun to watch her raise her little child.  Congratulations Sheila, that's awesome.
Being from a big family is so great.  It seems that with so many of us, doing so many things, at so many different stages of life, that something awesome is always happening, and because we are so close, when something awesome happens for one of us we all get excited, and get to share in each others happiness.
The best part is, that with all the marriages and babies our family just keeps getting bigger, and the bigger it gets, the more opportunities for awesome things to happen!