Are you kidding me?

To celebrate our 10 year anniversary and Eric's 12th (and hopefully final) round of chemo, we booked a trip to Puerto Morelos (south of Cancun) two weeks ago. Eric and I have never been on a real trip together without our kids and were very much looking forward to sitting on that beach, drinking cokes, and eating nachos. But swine flu may be changing our plans! All I can say is, "Are you kidding me?" I think we really need this trip, so this pandemic better get under control ASAP!

P.S. My apologies to all those who have bigger problems in their lives than this. Please forgive my selfish insensitivity to the worldwide suffering caused by swine flu.

Twins x 2

No, that is not an announcement of any kind! I just watched my friend's children today - her son Jackson is one month younger than Logan, and her daughter Lucy is 3 months older than Paige. Logan and Jackson have very similar personalities; therefore, they play well and get into trouble well too. While I was feeding the girls, the boys were in the backyard playing. When I went to get them for lunch, I found them making mud pies with mud up to their elbows and knees. Why didn't I take a picture of that? Oh yeah, I was too busy stripping them naked and squirting them off with the hose!
Lucy and Paige are also very similar girls and kept me laughing all day. If one yelled my name, the other had to yell it too. If I gave one girl a bite of macaroni, the other would yell until I gave her a bite, etc. etc. If I held one baby, I had to hold both. Don't get me wrong, they were very happy, just insistent that my attention was equally divided!
Although we had fun today, I don't think I will be putting in a request for twins anytime soon. But Erica, I will watch your kids anytime! We are so glad you are our new neighbors!

10 Years Today

10 years of marriage + 3 beautiful kids = True Happiness

Spoke too soon

I know some of you may be anxiously awaiting the news of Eric's test results, but I am sorry to say we have no news. Eric talked to his regular doctor once she was back in the office, and they decided together to wait until after his 12th treatment to do the tests. I also miscalculated the number of treatments Eric has had, last round was #9 and he goes in Monday for #10. So, assuming we stay on schedule, he will have his 12th session May 18th. In order for the tests to be accurate, they will wait 3 weeks after his final treatment to do the scans. Just 3 more rounds to go! Eric is SOOOOO ready to be done with chemo. It's getting harder and harder each time for him to bounce back. This round he has been fighting a cold too, so he's never fully recovered. I feel so bad for him and wish I could make it easier on him. But he's a tough SOB so I know he's going to be fine - he just has to get through these sucky treatments. We'll keep you posted!

Happy Birthday and Happy Easter!

The kids started off Easter morning looking rough. But they had a blast finding all their Easter loot. The Easter bunny treated them good!
After some scouring, they turned out like this. Pretty cute, if I say so myself. The boys weren't sure about wearing pink, but I convinced them it was okay because it was Easter.
I wish I had a better backdrop than my fireplace, like my 5 daffodils in bloom outside. But mother nature brought rain instead of sun for our Easter morn - darn!
Miss Paige also celebrated her one year birthday today! It looks like she is about to take a step here, but don't be fooled. She'll stand forever in one spot, but refuses to move. Stubborn girl!
I wish you could see her hair here. She is getting the cutest flips and curls all over. It definitely is not as curly as Logan's hair, but it has some serious body to it!
Showing off her new stroller. It's by Chicco and is an exact replica of full size Chicco stroller. I do not doubt that in the next few days I will find Mason and Logan pushing her around the house in this instead of her dolls.
Since she shared her birthday with Easter, Eric thought a rabbit cake would be appropriate. Although I made it, the idea comes from Eric's 8th grade home ec teacher. I guess he did learn something useful in that class - why didn't any other cooking skills transfer over from junior high? I love Paige's look here - why am I on a table with you crazy people singing to me?
Because the rabbit was too cute to let her destroy, I made her a heart cake all of her own. She touched it gingerly at first...
And then destroyed it! Happy Birthday to our little wild thing. We love you and all your craziness!

Hold the Bleo, please

Eric is currently getting his 8th round of chemo. They have withheld Bleomyocin from his last two rounds because his lung function tests showed significant decreases in his diffusion rate. He goes in this week for another lung function test to see if they can add the bleo back in next time. Please pray that his lungs will be protected from the negative effects of bleo and that he can receive all parts of his chemo.

He saw a different physician today who wants him to have CAT scans and PET scans next week. His normal physician had advised him to wait until his 12th session was finished before doing the scans, but we both are so anxious to know what's going on in his body that we are going to schedule the tests. Pray that we will see good results and evidence that the chemo is working!

Thank you for all your prayers. We have been so blessed thus far and know that it is because of so many righteous people praying for us. We'll keep you posted!

First week of April

The first week of April was somewhat disappointing. Instead of sunshine and flowers, we had snow, rain, wind, and hail. So we stayed inside most of the week. It was disappointing because my mother-in-law was visiting and we couldn't get out much. Paige stayed occupied by playing in the kitchen. If she wasn't in the dishwasher, she was in the drawer under the oven. Not very comfy, but fun for some reason.

She also worked on her standing skills. She will stand for quite a while, but she won't take any steps yet. I really want her to walk by her birthday (the 12th) so that she can walk around in her beautiful Easter dress instead of crawling all over the dirty floor, but I don't think it's going to happen.
One day the boys built a fort, and when it was bedtime I was too tired to clean it all up, so I told them they could sleep in it. I earned major points for that one! They had a blast and actually slept really well.
We enjoyed our visit with Eric's mom, Kathy. The poor woman has dementia, so I was worried she wouldn't like being at our house and in a strange environment, but she did well.
Here's to hoping the second week of April brings some spring weather!