Marissa, Hannah, Hailey and Lauren (left to right) on their way to Christmas eve service. Lauren btw lost her upper front tooth on the 23rd.



Before I get to some concerns we've been having I just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! The girls had a great Christmas. Lauren woke up at 6 am and was dying to go downstairs, unfortunately Marissa wouldn't wake up. Lauren wanted to wake her up, but I wouldn't let her. The longer Marissa slept the less crabby she'll be at the end of the day. We spent the first part of the morning opening presents at our house before going to Granny and Granda's house where Santa also makes a stop. Our girls are so spoiled! Later in the day we went to the Fitzsimmons' house for dinner. Where the girls got to play with their cousins (Kiera, Owen and Liam) and see Auntie Say-Say.

Now for the concerns. Lauren has been experiencing a lot of dizzy spells lately, which usually lasts no more than 10 seconds or so and they usually go away when she sits down. We've figured out that certain things trigger them (Hot baths, sudden movements of her head, or when she gets excited). We've discussed her dizzy spell issues with Dr. Finlay who was not concerned at all. He is pretty sure it's due to her steroids. However, a couple of nights ago Lauren had a dizzy spell while taking a hot bath (she was freezing prior to getting in). This was one of the first times she got one (dizzy spell) while sitting down and this one lasted over 3 minutes or so. Also we noticed she doesn't look down. To walk, she scans ahead and plots her path accordingly. Which have resulted in a couple of stumbles. She also has complained of a few minor headaches, and to top it off, yesterday she informed us that she is saw white spots floating around in her eyesight. To say me and Hilary are scared is a huge understatement. We would be feeling so much better if Lauren's last MRI didn't reveal enhancements (possible activity) in her tumor. Hopefully it's because of the steroids, hopefully we're over-reacting and hopefully we'll look back and feel silly about how worried, stressed and frightened we were right now. Thankfully Lauren is scheduled for labs and will be up at CHLA today. Her next MRI is not scheduled until February.

Some good news. Yesterday we made our final payments for our Disney Cruise in March. After hearing about our ordeal with the Make-a-Wish people, my friends from NorCal took it upon themselves to give Lauren and us their version of a make-a-wish, raising enough funds to send us on this Disney Cruise. Thanks everyone, and especially Kevin & Kelly and Jolie.