Happy Belated!

Team Lolly

I know, I know... I am long overdue to write a post. Our newest addition to Team Lolly though has had me feeling like a zombie at times... and therefore, rendered me incapable of blogging... and also of writing any thank you cards :o).  I'm hoping the one year rule for wedding thank yous applies to baby showers as well.

Guilty as charged of the smell

And I know, I know... what kind of person would blame a baby... but he has to get used to it...  he will be my scapegoat for any unwanted expelled gas in public. Hahaha... and for any tardiness on my behalf.

Anyhows, here's what we've missed writing about these past few months...

Kiss me I'm Irish & adorable.

Happy Belated St Patrick's Day!

First family outing:
Cherry Blossom Festival
in Fairmount Park

Happy Belated Spring!

Happy Belated First Wedding
Anniversary!

Owen's 1st Easter

Happy Belated Easter!

Happy Belated
4th Birthday to
Rylan Cruz
in Heaven!

Happy Belated Nurse's Day!


Happy Belated Cinco de Mayo!




























And best of all...
Happy Belated Mama's Day!



lots and lots of belated love...
little lisa lollipop & Owen Armando

snips and snails and puppy dog tails...

...thank Heaven for little boys!

Owen Armando: 1 week old

Hi everyone!

We returned home from California on Sunday, March 9th... which ironically was his due date. Haven't forgotten about you... I've kind of lost track of time though, and I haven't been up to posting in my current state of exhaustion... from our Cali trip, the time difference and 

feeling jet lagged, daylight savings, and oh yeah... having a newborn :o)

Things are going well. Life is good... and now it's even better!

lots of mama lollipop love... little lisa lollipop

P.S. Repeat scans this Thursday to check on my cancer status

"Kid President"

Owen Armando has arrived! He was born Ash Wednesday, March 5th at 8:09pm Cali time.
6 pounds 11 ounces & 20.5 inches.  He is healthy and adorable. Of course, I'm also a little biased. Pictures to come once we are home.



Dear Owen Armando,

There's a lot that the kids need to know... A letter to a person on their first day here:

Today over 360,000 babies will be born, and you are one of them. Welcome!... This is the World. It's a pretty cool place. There's lots to see...smell...There's corn dogs. Uh, I'm getting ahead of myself. There's just so much to do...  singing... dancing... Oh and laughing. Laughing is the best! Especially great when you laugh and milk comes out of your nose, but only if  you just had milk. Otherwise it's just gross.

Some days...gross things will happen. Some days... awesome things will happen. Some days you'll get ice cream. Some days you won't. Some days your kite will fly high. Some days... it gets stuck in a tree. That's just how it is here.

There's plenty of reasons to dance... You just got to look for them. Don't worry though. You won't be doing this alone. You're going to meet lots of people here. Some of them will be really nice and some won't be. It's not that they can't be. It's just...maybe there're just having a bad day.

Being a person is hard sometimes. You should give people high fives just for getting out of bed. Oh...high fives! I forgot to explain that. How do I explain this? Um, it's kind of... high fives are like hitting someone who is you friend. Uh...that's really bad.

Just treat everybody like it's their birthday... even if they don't deserve it, because we all mess up sometimes. The biggest mess up? ...Not forgiving each other's mess ups.

Maybe you'll be a teacher. Maybe you'll be President. Maybe you'll cure every disease ever... You might even see the Grand Canyon... swim in the ocean. Oh this is so, so much. It's a lot. Try this... take a breath. Isn't that amazing? It's called breathing! You're going to do it a lot. But nobody knows exactly how much. So enjoy it.

Pay attention. Take pictures. Take brain pictures, because amazing things will happen every day. You're going to do so much. But it's not about what you do... It's about who you are.

You? You're awesome. You were made that way. You were made from love, to be loved, to spread love. Love is always louder, no matter what. Even if hate has a bullhorn, love is louder. So let your life be loud. Let's shout to the World. Things can be better! It's okay about all the mess ups! Corn dogs rule! Sorry... I just keep bringing that up.

I don't think I told you this yet...We're really glad you're here. We don't say that enough to each other here because, well... life gets busy.

You're going to be important and you're going to do a lot, and you're going to smell great... But don't get too busy.

Remember to let everybody know... you're glad they're here. You don't have to remember all of this right now. You're going to need a pep talk sometimes. And that's okay.

For now, remember this... You're awake. You're awesome. Live like it.

lots of love...
mama & papa lollipop


P.S. Thank you Curt for sharing this "Kid President" letter and video.
 Can be found on You tube by Soul Pancake.

No time to blog...

Photos from indoor sky diving at iFly
during our last California trip.

Hi Lolly friends!
NO TIME TO BLOG... gotta fly to California... right NOW. Well actually it will be first thing tomorrow morning... our carrier is being induced. Baby Owen is on his way!!!!!

lots of love...
little mama lisa lollipop

P.S. I'm secretly hoping she has a long labor (so we can get out there before he arrives)... well, guess it's not a secret anymore :o). Fingers crossed.                                              
                                                                                                                                    

5...4...3...2...1...

The countdown begins!
We are now officially week 38, & we are "nesting"... as all the baby books call it... getting the nursery ready for baby.  Bon-bon, JVo, & Anna were a huge help & painted the nursery while i was still at the hospital. Once i came home, we  assembled the crib... and now we can officially scratch off "become rocket scientists" from our bucket lists.

Aside from having a bad a@# "crib," Owen will also be the best dressed baby because we had not one but two baby showers. The first thrown by my sisters back in January, and the second was my CHOP family put together by Bon-bon, Paula, & Becca. Thank you everyone!

Baby Shower Numero Uno

prune is the new cheese

my sisters & i

I've been blessed so many times in my life. I know... I'm started to sound like a broken record :o). Rylan Cruz was our first little miracle, but he wasn't ours to keep. I truly believe that he is watching over me now... he's the gang leader of Team Lollipop Angels. Sounds like he should be wearing leather and riding a Harley, right. :o)

Well our first miracle led us to our second one. This time though, we had to turn to science, and it took over 3 years... 3 long, exhausting years. We now have Owen Armando... conceived in a petri dish on Father's Day last year.





It was so nice to be surrounded by so many people that I love at both of my showers. And even though I'm not planning on going anywhere, anytime soon... it is comforting and reassuring to know that Owen, likewise, will be so loved and blessed. Thank you for celebrating my boys... Rylan and Owen!

lots of love...little lisa lollipop

CHOP family

Dirty Diaper game

Baby Shower Numero Dos

Chapstick Kitzy & i

Silver IS the new gold!

Now that the 2014 Olympics are officially over, i hate to tell you that Silver is the new Gold! Well... at least in my book. That's because I'm really talking about Silver 11... or the 11th floor of the Silverstein building at HUP aka Penn Medicine... whose staff i fell in love with and are worthy of receiving a medal! They get all the screamers. :o)

Heliport view

On all three of my recent hospital admissions, i somehow got lucky and spent some time on Silver 11. And after spending the night in the ER twice, it was definitely an upgrade. Complete with an amazing view of the city (shown in my last post from my father) and the heliport. The bathroom... nicer than the bathroom at my home. Was i in the hospital... or a hotel?

Sunbathing in the penthouse
of Silver 11

Here's a story from my first day on Silver 11:
"Nurse, NURSE, NUUUURRRRSSSE"... a woman from the neighboring room screamed. As her calls at first went unanswered, i debated if i, as a nurse, should get up to assist this poor old woman... she was after-all...screaming bloody murder. Luckily though, a staff member came to her attention, and then i heard her say in the sweetest little old lady voice, "i need a spoon."

Nope, i'm at a the hospital. But there are times when people forget they are in a hospital, and they think it's a hotel. Like when a family refuses vital signs on a potentially sick patient. Or being paged at 8:01am for a medication that was due at 8:00am. I know people mean well and just want the best for the patient, but us nurses are balancing the needs of all of our patients. My favorite though is when we receive a page to go to a patient's room while in the middle of something important. And the page is for a "present" ...which is actually a dirty diaper. Real examples, but us nurses just grin and bear it all.

Being a patient in the Intensive Care Unit (on Founders 9) also gave me an even greater appreciation for ICU nurses. Whenever we have an emergency situation with a patient, i find so much relief to know that the patient is transferred off the unit... to the ICU where they can better manage the patient. And these nurses are balancing the needs of the most critical patients. In one room, your patient might be dying... and then to compose yourself and walk into your other patient's room... with a smile on your face... it is difficult... especially if the other room is paging you for one of those special "presents" :o). Well... i didn't want to page them for anything. Not even for pain meds... i was too traumatized by the hour long code that took place next door.

Well... no matter if it's Silver or Gold or Bronze for that matter... you nurses all deserve a medal!

lots of love for all nurses...
& extra sugar to the staff of Silver 11, Jill, Vic, Zelmo, & Rose... Robyn in the MICU & Sam on Radvin 6

                                                         little lisa lollipop

                                                         P.S. Happy 1 year anniversary to the blog!!

"Thank you, Thank You Very Much"

The following thank you addendum was written by my father on behalf of the family:

We must express our thanks to all the wonderful doctors at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) and to the dedicated nursing staff. Due to their skill and effort, Lisa survived the waves of trauma she experienced over the three week period starting January 22nd.

It was a period of ambulance rides to the emergency room (during severe winter weather), intensive care, cauterization, numerous transfusions, endoscopies, embolization, hemorrhagic shock, blood clot, TAE procedure, hopeful waiting for the next hemoglobin count, and all-night vigils in the room by Juan, Marita, and Susan.

We are grateful for the visits of Lisa's friends, co-workers from Children's Hospital (CHOP), Doctor Doolin, nurses Mary and Chrissy from her Guatemala trip, the HUP staff that followed Lisa's progress after she transferred to other units, and to Father Sam.

Lisa's spirit remains strong. She inspires us. Thank you. Our emotional state these past weeks can be summed up by the two pictures of the Philadelphia skyline taken from Lisa's hospital room.   ~Hermann