Sunday, February 28, 2010

Tyler's Birthday Party

We celebrated Tyler's party on Sunday. Jenny came a bit early to help out. She brought some folding chairs because I didn't have enough seating. We didn't have as many people as we thought we would anyway, so it worked out pretty good. Dan's parents didn't want to come, then my brother got sick, so both brothers stayed home. My sister couldn't get out of work and my friend Jen had other obligations that day. So we ended up with just my parents, my Grandma, Dan's sister and our friend Jenny. Really, that was an ideal amount of people for our small place anyway!

We had cake and ice cream, then opened presents. Tyler wasn't so sure about the cake at first, but he did end up pretty messy and was determined to play with the cake until it was all just crumbs. I don't think anything made it in his tummy though! He put it to his lips once and that was about it. After having chemo just 2 days before that, I wasn't expecting anything to get eaten anyway.

He got a pretty nice pile of presents. His Great Grandma got him 2 books (a touch n feel and an animal book with noises) Puffs and Mum Mums (baby snacks). Grandpa and Grandma got him a ride on firetruck. His uncles each got him a movie. He got Clifford and Blue's Clues. Aunt Vicky got him 2 books (first words and the hungry caterpillar). Jenny got him 2 stuffed animal puppets. We got some really good deals, so we got him more than we would've! Toys R Us had a buy one get one free sale on Fisher Price toys. I had a gift card too! So I got him the Lawn Mower and a talking Mailbox. Then I found movies on sale, so I got him Word World and Blues Clues. Then when we were at Walmart, they had a Bouncing Colors Turtle on clearance, we got the last one.

He loves his books, he likes books way more than Dawson did at that age. He can sit through 4-5 books before wanting off my lap. Dawson wouldn't sit still for 1 page! He does now though. He loves the Fisher price toys, they're a bit hit. Dawson often pushes the lawn mower around and waits for Tyler to follow him. It's so cool seeing them playing together and getting along more now. Tyler loves his ride on truck. We push him around the apartment on it, or just in the living room. He hasn't figured out where the buttons are (under the steering wheel), but he sure likes being pushed around, especially if Dawson runs along with us. It's very hard on a person bending over and pushing for too long though! The movies were a big hit too, they always watch them in the morning when they're waking up and in the evening to wind down. He's not so sure about the Bouncy Turtle. Dawson plays with it a lot more. Tyler can't begin to put his feet on the ground yet. He does like pulling himself up on it and playing with the buttons though.The puppets are fun, he likes how soft they are. Dawson thinks it's fun to put his hands in them.

It's nice to have new toys around. They keep themselves entertained more easily now. I also went through and sold some toys on Craigslist. Got rid of almost as much as we brought in, plus I made almost as much as I spent too. Always a good feeling. :)

Here's Tyler with his cake
(and no, nothing got in his mouth, he just touched it to his lips!)
Yay! It's all crumbled!
Tyler with Grandma after getting all cleaned up
Presents! He wasn't so big on the opening part
Dawson came to help
Grandpa is getting the tags off his puppets while Tyler checks out his mailbox
Many of the pics were blurry, due to low camera batteries, but this was too cute not to post!
Riding his firetruck
Dawson was putting tape on my nose. He likes tape and stickers.
Tyler on his bouncy turtle
Dawson trying to push him off the turtle
What to play with next?!
Dawson loved kicking around the paper and packaging after everyone left.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Back to the 50s Skate

Dan and I went to the Back to the 50's Night at the Skatin Place. It was a lot of fun! We haven't gone out together in a while. There were many people we knew there, Brian and Jessie, Jenny and her whole family and some other regulars from Adult Night and people Dan knew from when he used to skate there. They're having a 70's skate night on the 27th, so we're hoping to make it to that one as well.

Jessie made me a skirt at the last minute. We were talking on Facebook only 2 nights before skating and I mentioned not having a skirt. Sewing is one of her hobbies, and she offered to get one together for me if I gave her my waist size. So they brought it with and I changed in the bathroom. It turned out great! Dan says I stood out too, because mine was the only teal skirt. Jessie came with 2 girls and they all had pink skirts. A couple other girls had pink too. Pink just doesn't look good with my mens skates though! Here's some pics that Jessie took and a couple that Dan just had to take of me still dressed up and getting Dawson's stuff ready in the kitchen.

Friday, February 26, 2010

A Long Clinic Day on Tyler's Birthday

On Tyler's actual birthday we went down for Chemo. It was a long day, we dropped Dawson off at my Grandma's house on the way to Children's. He got his 4 hours of fluids and then chemo. Just when that was finishing up, his labs came back to find he needed a blood transfusion! We had to wait around for that, then it took 90 minutes to get that into him. The nurses and everyone there seemed to know him and that it was his birthday. We got stopped by many people, most we didn't even know! The nurses gave him a Tickle Me Elmo and a Little People Dino Playset for his birthday. That was so nice of them to go find him some toys. :)

His weight was 21 pounds, 10 ounces and he was 28 inches long.

We picked up Dawson from my parent's house and got home around 9pm. Thankfully he doesn't have many of these long clinic days left. From there we swung by and picked up Dan to run a couple errands.

We got out for a walk the day before our clinic visit. It felt nice out for the first few minutes, but it was still a bit cold on the face after a while
First walk in their new stroller
Tyler wanted to go back outside
He's getting 4 teeth on the top, so he often looks like this
The boys climbing on my legs
We did a bit of shopping after his chemo. He got to ride in the cart for the first time. I have a cart cover, but I didn't bring it since I assumed he'd be wiped out and sleeping from the chemo. So I just sanitized the cart instead. Was worth it, he loved sitting there! We let him drop the mask for the pic. :)
He loved his Tickle Me Elmo
Doing his excited dance while watching Elmo
Hard to tell he's getting a harsh dose of chemo when he's so happy!
Love that tongue! We see it a lot these days. :)
Can't get enough of all his cute faces!
The next Gerber baby?
 Chewing on his teether. He was getting bored and more fussy by this point.
 Can we speed this thing up and get out of here?
Calling the nurse! I'm getting bored!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Getting Ready for a Party!

I've had a busy week! I made Dan and Tyler's birthday lists at Target and spent some time going around the store and finding things they'd like or need. I've also been cleaning the apartment for Tyler's party on Sunday. Mostly just putting big baby stuff away. I have no clue where I'm gonna put it all. I have a swing and infant carrier coming back to me tomorrow night. I just put away the exersaucer and the jumperoo, so that made a lot of room in the living room. Next I need to take down the climber slide, clean off the table and get rid of the wall that blocks the kitchen so we can put the leafs on the table.

Dawson is doing great. he's babbling more and picking up on a couple new words. He also will go to the car and climb in once I open the door. A huge improvement, he used to take off running down the parking lot. I think the cold weather helped this a lot! Not a lot of incentive to stay outside very long in this cold.

Tyler got his last home IV chemo today. Another small step towards maintenance. Only a few more weeks and hopefully life will be even more normal. I really can't complain about how it is now, I've been loving it! "Only" going to the cities once a week has been a nice change from living there for weeks at a time.

Tuesday afternoon, Dawson's teacher is coming over. Then Tuesday evening I'm going skating. It's so refreshing to get out of the house and the kids love having someone else to play with. On Friday we go to the clinic all day for chemo.

Here's Tyler following Dawson to the door at Great Grandma's house. We go there every week on our way back from getting chemo. Dawson had been crawling along side him, but I couldn't get the camera to take a pic fast enough. It was pretty cute though. He likes crawling next to Tyler.
We stopped for McDonalds on the way shopping. We rarely ever eat in places anymore, too many germs. So our treat these days is drive thru. Dawson was determined to eat his nuggets but he was tired. Looks like the "tired" won this battle! He usually always falls asleep in the car.
We got a new carseat on Sunday. I'd looked around and couldn't find one in stock. It was on sale so I wanted to get it soon. They said the Buffalo Walmart had 1 in stock, so I called and put it on hold. It had this note on it. I took the note off and stuck it here to see if Dan would notice and get the 2nd meaning. He did right away of course. I didn't leave it there, but I had to take a pic. :)
And yes I'm a dork, I kept many of Tyler's bracelets at discharge and put them on his carrier handle. I ran out of room though, we're missing several.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Valentines Day, Baby Stuff and Skating

Valentines Day was fun. We usually don't do much, but Dan said I definitely deserve it this year! :)  He actually spread it out a bit. He got me an ice cream cake on Saturday, which is so yummy. Sunday I got a card and then late Sunday we went shopping and got some Valentines candy after they marked it all 50% off. The boys got a singing, dancing monkey. They were laughing so hard at it. It jumps around so much that it moves and falls off the table. Which of course is the best part. :)

I went skating tonight with Jenny. Finally found a babysitter that showed up. She's very nice, the boys didn't even cry when I left! Had a good time at the rink, got pretty tired out. It's painfully obvious that I don't get to go skating very often! Was nice seeing everyone again though. I got home to find Tyler snuggling with Kortney watching a movie and Dawson was happily playing. Tyler looked at me and didn't seem very motivated to get up and come see me! She's coming back next Tuesday so I can go skating again.

Jenny stopped by before skating and dropped off 7 totes of baby stuff! When I got pregnant with Dawson, she gave me all her baby clothes, many toys and other things. When Dawson started to accumulate a lot of stuff that I had no room for and was done with, she offered to store it for me since I didn't want to get rid of it and get all new baby stuff again some day. She had an empty corner in her basement anyway. She also started putting her son's clothes in a bin for Dawson when he gets bigger. She even bought us diapers a few times to help us out. When I had Tyler she would just give me the bin of clothes I needed and the next size up. She had her son 6 months after Tyler was born, so once I was done with stuff, I sent it back to her again for her to use with Andy. Most of it was hers anyway, or garage sale stuff. She used the baby equipment too. It's so nice to have it out of here! I have no clue where I'd put it and it's nice to know it's being put to good use. So now her sister in law is moving into her basement and she brought those totes back. I sold the first stroller I had since Dan fixed it, so now I have more room in the closet for things. I'm also putting stacks of totes next to Dawson's bed. It's been so nice, I really don't know what I would've done without all her help! We keep an eye out for things for each other at garage sales. We usually have a bag to swap to each other, and usually it's a pretty even trade. When she's done with her baby stuff, she sometimes gives it to me to sell on Craigslist. Last time she took the money, this time she told me to keep it for all my time.

We always seem to come out even in the end, though we don't often keep track, when we do think back on things, we couldn't hardly come closer to even if we tried! She just gave me her Boppy, which is so nice. Mine was pathetically worn out and I was leaning way over to nurse. This one is almost brand new and I can sit up and still nurse Tyler. No more sore back. :)  Next time I see them I'm bringing the rest of my baby food since Tyler doesn't eat it, and her husband is going to program my new remote start key fob. The other one broke last year, been dropped too many times or something!

Tyler was having lots of fun playing in Dawson's bath water today. I can't wait until he can start taking baths too! He was playing in the bubbles and I had a rubber ducky in there too. Dawson likes the scoop best.
Tyler has been big on trying to stand holding on with 1 hand. He's pretty good at it!
Debating going for the camera
Yep, he did!
Dawson splashing like a crazy person! I was getting wet in the hallway!!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Long Clinic Day

Tyler had chemo today. It was 4 hours of IV fluids, then 1 hour of chemo. It went well I think. Was a very long day with both boys but we survived. I got permission to go to McDonalds while Tyler got his 4 hours of fluids before chemo. They said we could go anywhere in the hospital on just fluids, but had to stay in the unit with chemo. We took full advantage of this! We went to McDonalds and ended up talking to a couple other adult cancer patients. One who just had to brag to someone that he is officially a survivor as of today. :)

After that we visited Tyler's nurses and circled the floor to see who all was there. Nobody we knew, so we headed back downstairs. We filled Tyler's prescriptions and then I went online for a few minutes (until Dawson's sucker ran out), then headed back to the Oncology clinic. That took care of 90 minutes.

So then we circled the unit for quite a while, played some kid's mini-golf and circled some more. Dawson found a car to ride in, so then I was pushing sleeping Tyler in the double stroller, pulling the IV pole and pulling Dawson's car next to me. No, I don't have 3 arms either! :)

The nurse decided to start the chemo at the 3 hour mark and have him double up on chemo and fluids for that last hour. So thankfully we got out of there an hour earlier than expected. We still spent from 9:30am until 3pm at the hospital/clinic. A very long day for 2 little boys and a mommy who is getting over being sick and only got about a 30 minute nap for sleep last night!

Afterward we went to my Grandma's house and the boys played and had fun being free to roam (for the most part). Was nice to visit and spend some time with her.

Tyler's yeast infection is looking great! It had been getting worse each day, it was even a greenish color the night before last! I finally decided to just put gauze over the site, like a couple others I talk to advised. It worked! It completely dried up and is already starting to heal just overnight. There's finally scabs on the bad spots, vs yeast goo. It was gross. The nurse kinda cringed when I mentioned taking advice from "online friends", until I added they are also infant Leukemia moms. Then she seemed a bit relieved!

Tyler's main Oncologist is thrilled with how he is doing. He wasn't assigned to see us, but came over anyway. He really likes seeing how "his" baby is doing. I put Tyler on the floor and he crawled over to him. The Dr held out his hands and Tyler quickly pulled himself up. The Dr was grinning ear to ear, seeing how well Tyler was moving around. I think he could've watched him all day! He stopped by twice, just to watch him play a bit. :)

I noticed at the Zoo party that there were no other babies there. I thought maybe they just hadn't come. I asked the nurse if they had other infant Leukemia patients and she said no! Tyler is the only one. No wonder they make such a huge deal over him! I knew it's rare, but wow! I guess I was thinking maybe there'd be at least 1 other here.

Tyler has labs on Wednesday and chemo on Friday if labs look good. It's just the Ara-C that I give at home. They insist on giving the first dose at the clinic. I have no clue why, they just say they want to see him. I guess I thought that's why we have Home Care, they do blood pressure and all that too! She said maybe he'll need transfusions, but we did those in town here last time. It's just a big hassle, but at least we have an afternoon appointment so I don't have to lose so much sleep for it.

Hopefully he won't have any complications with this chemo. It's known to be hard on the kidneys, some have said their baby has had blood in the urine from it. The Dr didn't seem to think Tyler would have this problem, so that's good. I guess we'll see. 
 
Dawson ate cheerios and watched cartoons from the crib for a while
Tyler preferred the floor
This shirt really fits Dawson
He was being quite a ham today
Tyler wasn't so thrilled about being hooked up. He was getting frustrated with tripping over his lines
So he joined Dawson in the crib for a while. This is his goofy / happy face.
He has many goofy faces!!
So does Dawson!
By the end of the day, we were getting pretty goofy trying to keep up Dawson's happy mood
Tyler was pretty content, until this kept happening, he really wasn't liking those lines! He was totally stuck, wrapped around twice!
Dawson and Tyler standing in the crib. Interesting to compare their height. I don't see them standing next to each other often, they move too fast. Dawson had shoes on too, but he's 35 inches and Tyler is 28 inches.