the slew of 3's

Well no there are no longer 3 people in our family...there are 4, but there seem to be lots of other 3's! 

Let's start with our little guy...he is now 3 weeks old.  Can you believe it? 

Last week was our 3rd Anniversary!  Haha I still can't believe all that's happened in 3 years...trust me even in my wildest dreams the day we got married I could have never even considered I'd be where I am now!  Not to mention I have officially spent half of our married life pregnant (that's right folks 18 months is half of 3 years)!  Lots of difficult things have happened...but many blessings too.  Thanks to my fabulous husband and kiddos for a fabulous ride!!  We even snuck out for dinner the night before while Aunt Lori watched Gracie.  I know hard to believe.... especially since Gracie woke up early that morning with a mild case of croup seemed to be gone be evening (phew)!

Gracie's silliness after we got home...she's enjoying her teddy grahams aunt lori got her for the night.

Tyson of course joined us and actually slept until dinner was over!  Something that would probably never happen now...he's been much more fussy lately.

And the third number 3...Gracie finished her 3rd phase of treatment.  Yay...mostly I'm super glad she's done with it, but really sometimes think my heart is being pulled about apart thinking about the next phase.  I'm so heartsick from seeing her suffer so much over the last 4 months that I can't bear to think of what's to come.  But come it will..we start Tuesday if she passes counts and go back Friday and the next Tuesday!  It should be a rockin' good time.  Wish us luck and shoot an extra prayer our way if you'd be so kind! 

I know they are both really similar but I love them both!  Just look at her sweetness and innocence.  I wish we could just fast forward through all these awful treatments.  I just hate the thought of her getting all these awful drugs and treatments.  But...here we go!

Let's see the 4th number 3 is that our 3rd person is coming this week.  Grandma Bucher!

We have had so much great help starting with my sister Angela!  I don't know if any of you have had the luxury of having your own personal Mother/Baby nurse stay in the hospital with you the night you had your baby and the following week...but I'd recommend it.  Especially if you're lucky enough to have it be your amazing big sister.  Thanks so much to her and her family for making it possible for her to come!  And thanks to all my other sisters and Mother who I'm sure wanted to come, but weren't able!  I LOVE you so much!

And thanks to Aunt Lori who just left Friday!  You were a great help and we are so grateful to you for your time and all your help!  We love you!

The last thing has nothing to do with the number 3 but just wanted to post a few pictures real quick...b/c my time is short.  Thanks to all those who helped and participated in the race for Gracie!  I still can't believe that there was actual a race done totally in honor of my perfect little girl!  I wish so much that we all could have been there but since it was impossible here is a picture of sweet little Gracie in her shirt!

Oh just kidding of course I posted more than one.  I can never choose just one!

And how could I forget this goes along with our 3rd anniversary...I decided we should get a bed for Todd and Gracie for our anniversary and we did!  Our very first piece of furniture we have purchased in our married life!  Here's a picture of Gracie on it!

Oh and I have to mention so we don't forget!  Gracie's latest obsession is making piles.  She makes piles everywhere...and big piles full of anything and everything she can find.  It is so funny to watch and she'll put it one place and try to sit on top of it and then in a minute she'll move the whole pile to a new chair or corner.  I really wish I could get a glimpse into her little brain!   Here's a little view of a couple piles...

Well I more than used the time I had available so hopefully I got most the high points!  Hoping this week goes well!

Bath time

Tyson had his first real bath tonight now that his cord is gone.  He loved laying in the warm water...until I started washing the top half of his body then his lungs really got a good workout.  He just looks so handsome I love these pictures of him.

After he got dressed he totally relaxed again and took a nice nap in my arms while we watched Nemo.  It's on just about every night at our house..unless it's Ratatouille (Gracie starts laughing outloud on her own all the time in that movie it's so adorable) or Elf a few or her other favorites

And of course what would be the use of anything baby unless Gracie sat and played in it.  She swings in his portable swing all the time...believe it or not it has stood up to her 31 lbs so far and she looks so darn cute in it we can't resist.  I'll have to get a pictures to post.

Tysons' 2 week

Believe it or not this sweet little boy will be 2 weeks tomorrow.  We love having him in our family.  Gracie is slowly adjusting and thanks to my lack of sleep for months I don't feel to bad having a newborn.  My body doesn't know what an 8 hour night of sleep would feel like anymore!  And I enjoy having him so much that it's worth it.  He was almost back up to his birth weight at his appt yesterday. 

He weighed 8 lbs 11 oz and was still 22 inches tall.

He has been a hungry little guy.  He screamed like CRAZY when the nurse took him and changed him to take his weight etc.  They asked if he was always like that and I said no.  Then he did the same thing when the Dr took him and she asked the same thing.  He's been more fussy ever since but I think he's just been really gassy the last couple days.  Of course after the Dr handed him back he had a blowout all over my outfit.  There's something about my children at the Dr.  Gracie has wet through all over me at least 4-5 times at clinic and Tyson's getting started early.  And while I went into the bathroom to try to scrub out the mess he lost his cord! 
He looks great!  He went back in the day after we got home from the hospital because his bilirubin had been high but they said he looked so good and his poop was already transitioning to regular breastmilk poops at 3 days so they didn't even poke him again. 

I'll have to post more pictures later but here are a couple.

Coming home from the hospital

Relaxing with Mom the first week home.

Sweet as ever sleeping on sisters quilt

And we completed another phase!!

Let's just say it's a little more difficult to blog these days!  But before I totally miss posting after a day at clinic here's a quick update on Gracie's day in clinic on Monday.   Although I'm not sure I'm qualified to post about it since for the first time since Gracie was diagnosed in April that I haven't been present for a day in clinic or actually any type of treatment including at home doses of chemo and steroids.  We Mother's are a crazy breed...we think we want a break but we really don't.  It was difficult for me to be at home even with a perfect sweet 10 day old baby in my arms.  I finally got a taste of what it feels like for Todd to be at a rotation each time we go in always wondering if she's ok and what's happening. Even though I knew she was in good hands with her Daddy.

Here she is snuggling up for a movie the night before clinic.  Well the good news is she passed counts!!!  YAY she has passed every time this phase!  And her ANC even went up this time which means she should be in good shape to start her next phase (which I'm kind of dreading but will be glad to have over with) on August 30!  The frustrating part of it was that when she was getting her Vincristine (one of the chemos she got Monday) Todd looked down and her dress was all wet...yes... great chemo was leaking out onto her skin.  They said it should be ok but to watch her skin for the next few days to make sure it didnt' change how it looked because sometimes it can cause tissue necrosis (the chemo can kill the skin).  Thank heavens that didnt' happen it still looks good 3 days later.  They also had to deaccess her and reaccess her port to give her the next chemo so it wouldn't leak.  She fell asleep I guess after that while she got her 2nd chemo (methotrexate).  The Dr told Todd she must have iron roots because most children lose their hair by now!  She was born with perfect hair so thankfully she's kept it this long.  We'll see what August 30 and the weeks following bring...we may be enjoying our last 2 weeks of our healthy looking little girl for a few months. 

Clinic Stats

WBC: 4.2

ANC: 1500 (up from 1000)

Hemoglobin: 12.0

Platelets: 446,000

And I'll guess the weights the same 31 lbs...don't have the paperwork for it.

Tyson and I decided to help Gracie out since she gets 2 weeks off of clinic before starting her next phase so he went to the Dr yesterday and I'm going tomorrow.  We want to make sure we still get out fill of hospitals and clinics :)

Tyson's birth

Pictures from the birth of Tyson Todd. Born August 5th at 8:40pm. He was 8 pounds 12 ounces at the time of birth and 22 inches long. Mom and the baby are both doing well.

We passed counts!

Here's our sweet angel after her sedation and spinal tap today.  They had to give her a higher dose again because she always moves around when they start to clean her before the spinal tap.  She passed counts so we are SOO grateful she was able to get all her treatments today and even got her ECHO for her heart before she starts her new medicine the end of the month.  They wanted to do it next appt and I luckily got the nurse to get us an appt today at 1:30 so we just hung out an extra hour and got it done before the baby gets here...hopefully tomorrow!

Clinic Stats

Weight: just under 31 lbs

ANC: 1000

WBC: 3.6

Platelets: 428,000

Hemoglobin: 11.5

Back poke number 8 I think today!

The extra propophol they gave her kept her out a while this time it took her a good half hour to rouse at all.  She was pretty out.  Look how sweet she looks.  BRAVE GIRL!  She did better with getting accessed today, but still doesn't like it.

Here we are right after her ECHO they let me lay next to her while she watched Barney and she was amazing.  She just layed there and barely even moved or fussed the whole 15 min.  Believe it or not we both fit with my big belly now!

Glad the ECHO is done so we don't have to worry about it next time!  Blessings blessings...we passed counts and now only a few more hours and we'll hopefully be headed to the hospital to welcome our baby boy!!  Stay posted for pictures!  Time to attempt a good nights sleep before the big day!

miracles...

Are you in the mood for a miracle? Cause I am! As I have been thinking about the past, present and future starting about 3 months back I was able to see things in a new light! Yes...it was been tough...yes it will be tough...but this Friday (if not sooner) we will be experiencing a MIRACLE!! That's right the birth of a sweet boy straight from the arms of heaven! And guess what else...we are in the middle of witnessing another profound miracle! Can you believe that just 3 months ago, who knows exactly when it started, but we know that at that point sweet Gracie's body was filled with cancerous cells! That within weeks or even one bad infection not properly treated she could have been taken from us...at least from this life (even more miraculous that she will be ours forever!) Now recognizing that we still have 2 years of treatment ahead of us in hopes that she will be cured...the miracle is that she is ALIVE!! She has a remission marrow (last they tested they saw no cancerous cells) and although there may be a few hidden cancerous cells still flowing through her blood we have every reason to believe after we've made it through these two years she won't! She is here to spend every hour of every day with us...she smiles, she laughs, she loves, she hugs, she cries and hurts. 40 years ago there would have been no hope for this...we may have been expecting our precious little boy this week, but she probably wouldn't have made it this far to welcome him with us. Just wanted to take a moment to remind myself how blessed I am despite all the hard and seemingly impossible we will be part of at least 2 miracles this year! How many more can a person expect in one year? Now lets take a look at just how cute little Gracie is before we go crazy with baby pictures...although trust me you'll still see plenty of her in the future!

The wetlands she loves to go feed the ducks at!

Gracie with the ducks!

Chocolate and pajamas! We had our own personal declared pajama day due to extreme exhaustion...yes we both wore pajamas all day! It was grand! And she rarely has eaten sweets in the past few months so how could I refuse her request for chocolate?

I finally braved cutting her bangs again last night...here's the result while she signs her favorite sign..."more"

I believe we were watching Mr Kruegers Christmas...you never know what you'll find on at this house! Hey, it's a church movie right? It was our pre nursery lesson activity!

We love our little Gracie and can't wait to meet our new little guy!