Isn't she gorgeous? Our granddaughter McKinley Elizabeth Quade was born Sunday, February 24, 2008 at 12:43 a.m. 7 lbs. 3 oz. My daughter Mary and baby are doing fine. Due to my health I wasn't able to travel to Green Bay for her birth, but hope to get up there soon. Grandsons are adjusting to a little sister as well as can be expected. The year old is majorly jealous, but that's to be expected.

I have been awful about keeping up with the blog. Between doctor's appointments and my "lay down times" I have had to put my courses and students first and not much else gets done. I saw a new neurologist as the cervical spine procedure did not have the results we had hoped for and the pain can be worse now than before. His diagnosis is fibromyalgia, which has been supported by my GP, so I am waiting to get in to a rheumatologist for a diagnosis confirmation and to start on a treatment plan of some type. But, at least the Requip the neurologist prescribed for restless leg syndrome (goes along with fibromyalgia) is helping me sleep so the fatigue isn't quite as bad. "Downside" to it is I am turning into a morning person - heaven forbid! The rain woke me up at 5:00 this a.m. but I am normally up and about before Steve leaves for work. I won't mention the mini-naps I end up taking during the day though! Been reading about fibromyalgia online so I am not quite so freaked out about it, but it sure explains the "migrating" pain and fatigue I have had since 2002. More than a bit irritating that it has taken this long, and a surgery that was not needed, to get what appears to be a correct diagnosis.

Steve has been wonderful about taking care of me and for Spring break we are headed to the islands. We leave for Barbados early tomorrow morning. Three days there and the rest of the vacation on Tobago. He has decided I need a true non-working vacation (first one since the 90s) and I am leaving behind the laptop and the cell phone. I am sure I will have laptop withdrawal something terrible so we are taking a travel Scrabble board, cards, and lots of books. I may even print off some easy crossword puzzles for myself. I am terrible at them, but they are fun. So while he golfs in the a.m. I plan on reading in bed and then moving on to reading under a palm tree. Have Elizabeth Peters, Christine Feehan, Jude Devereaux, and Fern Michaels paperbacks in my luggage. No work related reading either. :-)

I did, however, just finish an absolutely beautifully written YA novel by Kathe Koja - Kissing the Bee. I grabbed if off my "to read" shelf on my way out the door to yet another doctor's appointment because it was thin and easy to carry. It may be only 121 pages long, but oh what a wondrous 121 pages - fascinating bee facts and lore (for her science project) interwoven into seventeen-year-old Dana's life. She is the female worker bee, her self centered friend Avra the queen bee, and Emil, Avra's boyfriend whom Dana is in love with, fears his love for Avra may indeed be the death of him as it is for a male bee. What elaborate steps both Emil and Dana take to dance around Avra as they try to avoid her venomous verbal stings. But Emil and Dana's solo trip to an apiary (bee farm) changes the dynamics of the human hive and the queen bee may have neither bee dancing for her. Display this one cover out - gorgeous gold tone illustration of a girl's face, eyes closed, with a bee about to land on her nose. Koja also wrote Buddha Boy, Going Under, and The Blue Mirror. Buddha Boy is one of my all time favorite YA novels.

That's it for today.