Hi from Tulsa!

Well, it's been too long since I've blogged on here so I thought I would say hi! I have some pictures of our pumpkin carving that I forgot to blog earlier, but they're cute so I'll put them on now!!!

It's been a rough couple of weeks here at the Bicknell house... The week after Jillian's birthday, Delaney started running a fever. It was never too high and she didn't have any other symptoms so I wasn't hugely concerned. Well....... By that next Saturday I was getting worried so I took her in to the clinic to have her checked out. She went through many, many tests to try and determine the cause. Her ears weren't infected and her urine analysis was normal so they sent us to the hospital for a blood test (CBC). That was traumatic but she did okay. It came back that her white blood cell count was WAY up, over 21,000. So, we knew she had a bacterial infection somewhere, we just weren't sure where. So we went back to the clinic for a chest xray to see if she had pneumonia. It showed that pneumonia was a possibility but the doctor wasn't sure. Our pediatrician then decided to try and give her IV antibiotics. They tried to draw more blood and put in an IV but they couldn't find a vein. Delaney was hysterical and I nearly was, too. She ended up getting shots of antibiotic instead of doing it IV. We went back the next day (Sunday) for another chest xray and they were more certain then that she had what was called occult pneumonia which means a pneumonia with no symptoms other than a fever. She wasn't coughing, hadn't been congested, or anything. After one more CBC on Monday, we were happy to see that her white count was down to 10,000. So she is all better...

On last Tuesday, I took Jillian for her 1 year well-baby checkup. She weighed 22 pounds (70th percentile) and was 31.5 inches long (90th percentile). And then the doctor found she had an ear infection in her right ear. So they put her on antibiotics. After she started those, I thought she acted worse - she was so cranky, she didn't want to eat, and she was sleeping more. Well yesterday, she woke up covered in an awful red rash from head to toe. I took her back in to the ped. and we found out she has a penicillin allergy!!! She was actually covered in hives and had probably been itching just terribly for almost a week. Now, she is on Benadryl for a couple of days to stop her allergic reaction. She is acting like a different kid today - she is SOOOO much better. She has discovered that she can pull out a kitchen chair, climb up on it, and then get on the table in no time flat. Then, of course, she is so proud of herself!! She said "yummy, yummy" tonight when she was eating dinner which was so cute.

Whew, I'm tired just typing about it!!!

Luckily Olivia hasn't been sick. The poor thing feels terrible when her sisters aren't feeling well... School is going great for her. We had a parent conference with her teacher last week and she is doing really well - she is happy and has made some good friends and the teacher is happy with her work.

Joel has been busy, as usual. He agreed to help out in the middle school production of "Bye Bye Birdie". He will be singing with some other faculty in 3 songs. They perform in January so they have already started rehearsals after school. And we've been practicing at home, too!!! :)

Nothing new with me. I'm doing 2 cakes this weekend - one for a little girl's 1st birthday and one for a baby shower. I will update my cake blog when I get them finished! http://acappellacakes.blogspot.com

We love you all and hope you are enjoying your fall!

Regina and the crew