Glad to be home again...

I should be folding my giant stack of laundry I've been washing since last night...but at least it's clean right?  And I have another load in the washer/Tyson's sleeping so technically I'm multi-tasking right?  But...

This little angel gave us ANOTHER scare...it must be in her nature I'm waiting to find out if it's always going to be her or if Tyson is going to join in on the fun soon.  She fell yesterday when we were out playing/walking/running at Pacific on a ramp and I guess it was a little too wet (around 11:30 am).  I walked around the corner and found a little relaxation type walkway...odd dont' you think as soon as I started walking the pathway and trying to relax for a few min (somethng I'm terrible at now...surprise surprise) Todd somes around the corner holding a SCREAMING Gracie...she seemed to be in shock.  He turned for a second and missed her fall but she must have slid under the side railing and off the ramp (only about a 2 ft fall) and with no real bump on her head that we can see ended up with a concussion.  (Thank heavens it was only that)  We finally calmed her down and assessed her and everything seemed ok no broken bones etc she had  a nap then lunch.  And I finally dragged my tired little body off the grocery store (around 4:15 pm).  When I was about half through my shopping I get a call....of course she's now vomiting.  So for the 2nd time I left my cart and ran as fast as I could out of the store and headed home for another delightful trip to the ER.  Thankfully my good friend came to the rescue and was there to watch tyson within about 10 min of getting my call...not far behind me.  Let me tell you our 45 min drive to the ER is not a favorite past time for us and gives us plenty of flashbacks of times past.  Then of course we got stuck in the tunnel as she's crying and vomiting again.  Todd gave her a Priesthood blessing before we left and felt she would be ok once again.  I am so incredibly thankful for the power of the Priesthood.  We finally made it and in the waiting room she was ok for few min then she started crying and such again we knew she was going to throw up again.  We had 4 blankets to catch it with and the filled room seemed to be starting at us.  As we waited a family walked out and the mom covered her nose as she walked by and said "ewww gross it smells like vomit, yuck".  We called the nursing station after waiting a while and they said they'd send the nurse right out of course we waited for another 5-10 min.  Another reason why we HATE weekends at the ER.  She was of course fearful the whole time and hated the blood pressure and everything else.  The poor girl was constantly covering her port and saying hurt hurt.  Makes me so sad she's had so much  trauma and she's only 2.  We added a CT scan to her enormous list of medical things she's had done at the young age of 2 that her Mother, Father and most adults have never had done.  We both sat there watching wishing for once it could be us instead of her.  We were able to get some zofran in her and opted for some nasal Versed prior to the CT scan she's proven over and over what a fighter she is and we knew there was no way she's lay still and didn't want to have to redo it and double the radiation and trauma.  Thank God it came back negative there was no bleeding and it was just a concussion we came home just after 10 pm and were so glad to be home and not staying another night in the hospital.  Todd slept with her just to be safe and said she slept great and woke up and crawled off the bed by hersel and came out to play.  May sound normal to most of you with a 2 year old but that's not our sweet Gracie...she's missed a developmental transition or 2 and almost always wakes up crying and waiting for someone to come hold her and comfort her.  She's been happy and active today.  So glad to have her back to herself again...now add to the list of worries for this Mama dont' let her hit her head again for the next few weeks and try not to make her think to much it might give her a bigger headache:)  But she's the sweetest little girl in the whole world and of course we wouldn't trade all the worry in the world for her.  I spent the last 3 hours laying with Tyson and playing with him want to make sure I don't miss out on him b/c I'm too busy worrying about Gracie.  Of all the worries that have come one thing we have to come to appreciate is the simple joys we experience including singing songs with her and doing This Little Piggy... at the hospital with her last night. 

6 mo appt for Tyson

No surprise our big boy measured big at his 6 month appt yesterday morning.  He just keeps growing!e

Stats

Weight: 20 lbs 13 oz (92%tile)

Height: 29 1/4 inches (off the charts)

Head: I think it was just over 17 and 80th percentile

Cute Tyson dressed up on a Sunday recently.

Lucky I caught him before he rolled again:)

Just doing his crunches at the Dr...I belive we're going to have a very handsome, strong boy on our hands:)  I better be careful and treat him well so we're always on the same team!  I love this little guy more every day and am SOOOO incredibly thankful for his good health (although my cancer Mom crazy mind naturally thinks when he turns 18 months the same thing will happen to him...or something else around that time...sound crazy well it probably is but I just might be a little crazier than I used to be.  YES I know for all of you wondering the chances are extremely low that a sibling would end up with ALL but does it happen sure heard of a mother with 2 boys both with ALL the other day.  And since the odds of Gracie ending up with Leukemia are also extremely low...lets just say statistics don't mean a heck of a lot to this mother its either 100% change or 0% when it my child either they have it or they don't. )

He got 4 shots and the rotavirus to drink.  He got a flu shot just to be safe for Gracie and him.  He's had a low grade fever today and I'm telling myself just to assume it's the vaccines (I'm sure it is) and not be a major worry wort cause Gracie can't get that.  He's been fussy and didn't sleep well last night but hopefully another day and he'll be happier and feeling better.  As we now know...it could be worse. 
He's looking so much older to me these days.  And cute as a button! 

6 months/17 months

Confused?  I think about the 5th of the month often it indicates the month mark for Tyson's first year and the months left for Gracie's treatment.
Tyson is 6 months old today!  What a sweet little boy he is.  We LOVE him so much.  He had his first taste of rice cereal about 2 1/2 weeks ago and loved it when it was mixed with breastmilk.  Liked it ok with formula (who wants to pump every day for cereal) and really seems to like the squash/sweet potatoes he's had.  He no longer wants rice cereal unless it's mixed with the vegetables. 
He is extremely vocal.  Often I have to wait for a time before I can explain something to Todd or even Gracie because he's just looking at us and cooing soo loudly.  It's kind of funny but it seriously is loud.  Cute boy.  He's starting to scooch his feet forward and push his bum in the air.  He rolls all over and seems to have a strong connection with Mom.  He sees me everywhere I go and typically wants to be held. 

Gracie loves to help with EVERYTHING and loves Tyson!

Gracie has 17 months of treatment left today...the countdown continues. 

This is what happens when you work on a sleep schedule that stops at 18 months old and doesn't start again for 9 months...haha jokes on us she doesn't remember EVER having one.  But I'm happy to report things are MONUMENTALLY better than they were for those 9 months.  It's taken me LOTS of work and LOTS of keeping her awake for MANY hours and waking her up etc but she now sleeps typically from 10-4 or even longer without waking up yes we usually lay by her til she falls asleep but we'll take it.  At least she doesnt' think its a nap and wake up 2 hours later for several hours in the middle of the night. 

Gracie found her old car seat and decided to put it next to him and lay in it while I was packing for the park.  Those cute little kids melt my  heart....I love them to pieces.  We spent every sunny day at the park this week, and all enjoyed it!!  Hoping for more park time this week!  Tyson even had his first try at the swing at the park on Saturday and both Tyson and Gracie enjoyed it!

My thought for the week by Elder Maxwell

"Trials and tribulations tend to squeeze the artificiality out of us, leaving the essence of what we really are and clarifying what we really yearn for."

Clinic (month 2 of maintenance)

Yesterday was LONG.  I felt like I'd lived 2 days in a few hours.  We got up and were getting ready...I fed Tyson, showered and got ready, pumped so I could leave him home with Grandma B and was getting the diaper bag ready and saw Todd's lunch on the table ran to give it to him hoping he hadn't pulled out yet and he was heading for the door but said no it's not my lunch the car won't start.  Spend time with that then came back in to finish packing...realized my wallet was missing!  Searched and searched and finally Lesli found in on top of the fridge...ay yay yay how did it get there?  Get settled into the car and head to clinic...get to clinic and there is ONE  I repeat ONE parking spot that I think I'm going to take but a car that passed it decides they really want it so they refuse to move until I back up so that can pull into it.  Head over to the parking garage pass in hand and...NO PARKING.  Seriously none call the oncology clinic and they say sorry wish we could help you but there's nothing we can do.  I drove up and down the 6 level garage probably 2-3 times then finally found one tiny little spot between a large van and an explorer.  I'm thinking is it really only 11:15?  Seems like bedtime to me.  We made it to clinic and back without too much else. 
Gracie SCREAMED and cried while they accessed her port of course she detests it and refused to really even look at the dr and nurses.  We didn't even have to do the dressing b/c it was just a count check since she's on study and didn't get chemo through her port.  But she's getting older and smarter and knows for sure, absolutely 100% she does not like her port bothered or being even so much as looked at by a dr or nurse.  To avoid the awfulness after getting accessed and screaming herself to exhaustion..she fell asleep on mommy's lap while mommy asked the Dr her long list of questions to make sure no tiny detail is missed and everything is done as well as possible to ensure a good, long quality life for her Gracie.  (many of the questions courtesy of Dad who is more knowlegeable than Mom on many things).  The Dr said they've had several fathers of children who were Dr's and that can be difficult for the Dad's but she thinks being a pharmacist would be the worst because they have a much deeper understanding of the drugs than the Dr's, they understand how they work on a deeper level... I agree.  Not that it matters to anyone else reading this...but seriously I think about how much I worry about some of these things and boy I just have to say poor Todd sometimes ignorance is bliss.  There is no ignorance for that poor guy when it comes to the drugs he feels responsible to the very core to make sure nothing is missed that could give her a better life.  It can be extremely stressful but I'm deep down very grateful for his incredible love for his children and desire to give her a great life.

Clinic Stats

Weight: 33 ish lbs

Height 3'

ANC: 1200

Hemoglobin: 10.3

Platelets: around 300,000