What's Cookin'?

It's been a pretty easy going couple of days. On Tuesday I got a call from the Help Me Grow program at the school. The same one that sends someone for Dawson once a week. Tyler now qualifies for some services as well. Someone is coming on May 4th to do a quick evaluation and update his file to make sure he does need services. He's just a bit behind in speech. He hasn't picked up a new word in about 8 months. At this age, speech isn't a really huge deal, but since Tyler is on chemo, they'd like to get things going early to keep him going in the right direction. Chemo often causes learning disorders and other things so we like to keep ahead of things. Many kids on chemo have physical difficulties with muscle tone also, but he's actually on the top of the curve in his physical development, so no worries there. The Dr is always very impressed to see what all he's doing. I can't wait for the day when he can walk into the clinic on his own.

I took the tape off his incision yesterday, it's healing just as well as it did the first time. They did use the exact same line, so I was relieved that he doesn't have to have yet another scar. I still feel his port all the time, it's just habit now! It's still in place and facing the right way, which is always a relief. I'm still trying to baby that shoulder so I don't stretch anything!

I'm still going skating every Tuesday. It's a lot of fun and feels good to break up the week a bit and get out. It really helps. Mon, Tues and Wed are hard with the meds because I have 1 extra those days. He still fights them and it takes 2-3 hours to get them all in. Tonight I finally got them all down and he threw up. It's so frustrating! It was enough to need a bath, which he enjoyed but seemed to be missing Dawson who was already asleep.

Sleeping babies are so cute!

I don't get many pics of Dawson anymore. Every time he sees the camera, he wants it for himself and is behind the camera before I can get a pic! But I convinced him to hold still for a few.

He was trying to pose

Smiling but also annoyed that I wouldn't give it to him!

Patience gone!

Adorable smile! I was holding him and trying to take a pic, so it's off center.

My little Tyler monster!

Things should be more interesting now that he's learned to climb!

Good thing I taught him to get down before he figured out how to go up. :)

He's good at it too!

Tyler has hair!! It seems to be growing fast.

Dawson was so tired. The babysitter wore him out good I guess! He fell asleep on the couch, rolled and fell off. I guess he was too tired to either lay on the floor or get up again, so he stayed like this! He didn't complain or even wake up when I scooped him up and brought him to bed.

I went to heat up some leftover Mac n Cheese today but found this when I opened the microwave. Nice to know that Dawson and I had the same idea today!! My way of making it tastes better though! Good thing he didn't actually turn it on, he's done that in the past. I will find plastic cups and bowls in the microwave. He just scoots his chair right up there. I can't convince him to keep away from it!

Tyler is excited and clapping. He does this a lot, he's the happiest baby I know. :)

Dawson wanted a pic of him at the table too.

Happy 14 months Tyler!

 Tyler is 14 months today! On one hand, I can't believe he's already 14 months, seems like he just turned 1! On the other hand, each month that passes is a month closer to being done with chemo, so that's exciting. Though really, it seems like such a ways off that the "sad that he's growing" part of things seems stronger for now. He's looking so much older too, everyone who sees him lately has been commenting on how much he's changed. His face looks older and him getting hair helps the older look too.

Today was fun. We went to a MOMS Club playdate at Nicole's house and met some new kids. We stayed there for 2 hours. Dawson was unsure of the new place at first, but when it came time to go he was running away from me, saying "happy". I guess he was happy there and didn't want to leave! We played outside for a while after we got home and went for a small walk. The lawn mowing company came after that, so they spent the next hour watching the lawn mowers!

Things are going a little better with Tyler's meds. He seems to be swallowing more than he was before. He still fights me and often holds a grudge for a little while afterward though. Here he is, sitting on daddy's lap, glaring at me for giving him his meds.

While getting some cleaning done in their room, I put a movie on. I came out to check on them since they were being pretty quiet and here's what I found! Dawson has been allowing Tyler to be closer to him these days, it's so cute! I love seeing them play together and get along. I even found them wrestling on the floor today. I heard some grunting and small cries from Tyler today. Looked over to see Dawson had pinned his head to the floor and wasn't letting up. Then when I told him to let go, he did, but then proceeded to roll onto Tyler, pinning him down again! Then when he got up and crawled away again, Dawson head-butted him, trying to knock him over. Tyler giggled at that one, so it's nice to know that he actually does enjoy Dawson's attempts to play with him. He is fairly gentle about it too, I've seen much worse. Dawson does seem to be pretty careful but like any kid, he gets to playing and sometimes goes overboard and gets a bit rough.

Dawson even decided to share the last half of his cereal bar with Tyler tonight! He won't eat food yet, but he sure loves playing with it. He was putting some in his mouth, but I think most got spit out. He mostly licks things yet. He was a big mess but having lots of fun. Thank goodness for throw blankets on the couch, I just shook it out and it was back to being clean again. Doesn't he look so much older these days?!

While I was shaking the blanket outside, Dawson got to my camera and added some of his own photography

That last one is off center because I had walked back in the room and he moved the camera in hopes that I don't see it! He was all giggles when I looked and saw his pictures on there. I can't say I mind him taking pics either, it's so cute to find these kinds of surprises!

Dawson has been doing great lately. He listens to directions more, he's pointing to things, which is one of his objectives. He's picking up more new words lately, 1-2 each week it seems. He recently said "shoes" and "juice". Today I think he said "milk" also. His teacher is always excited to hear about new words and especially things that are on his list of goals. I even found him driving 2 little cars around and talking to them the other day. He hasn't done any imaginative play or anything like that yet, so it was cute to see. It seems to help when I show Tyler how to do something, then Dawson is interested in it too and imitates. If I show Dawson, he's not quite as interested! Funny how that works.

I also turned Dawson's carseat forward facing today. He didn't like it at all, but I think once he gets used to it, he should be fine though. He has ridden that way before, I just think he was tired at the time. He really likes sleeping in the car and being more relaxed and he really can't while sitting up that far, so it'll be a big change for him. He's usually asleep before Tyler is these days! Tyler is still in his infant carrier and will probably be there for quite some time unless he has a sudden big growth spurt!

Surgery and Spring Cleaning

We've been so busy lately, I haven't had time to make a new post! I've been doing a lot of Spring Cleaning lately. I went through all the baby clothes and got them sorted by size. I have a bin for each size so far. Dan set up the bunk beds he found by the dumpster. They needed boards for under the mattress, so he cut those to size today and we got the bottom bunk all set up and ready for Dawson. He's sleeping on it for the first time tonight. We're using the top for storage until Tyler is ready for it. Probably not for at least another year. We'll see, I would like Dawson to be 4 or close to it before putting him up on the top bunk.

Dawson put the boppy on his lap, so I put Tyler on it. I was surprised that he didn't shove him off his lap like he usually does. He never used to be tolerant of Tyler sitting next to him. Instead he smiled and then leaned over to give him a hug.

Tyler wanted an Oreo. He got more on his face than in his tummy, but he had fun trying to eat it.

Surgery Day! Tyler's port kept flipping over all the time, so they flipped it back over and sewed it in better. Dan was holding him while I blew bubbles while waiting for surgery.

He loved the bubbles and was just happy to be held by daddy and playing with bubbles.

He got suspicious after a while, with all the Drs and nurses coming in. He started looking pretty nervous and stopped smiling. He was fidgeting and everything, I felt bad for the poor little guy. It was easier when he had no clue what was going on. He was glancing around, waiting for something to happen.

He knew he was doomed when I got all gowned up. He gave me that pity look that makes me feel so bad for making him go through all this and cuddled up to me. 

Mask and all. Poor Tyler was looking at me funny, wanting to make sure it was still me, so I kept talking to him until he was under. He fought the gas a lot, but went under quickly once he stopped fighting.

After waking up. He was very alert but stayed quiet for a while. He tired quickly at first, but he came out of it faster than he has in the past.

Giving me a goofy face. Still has his funny sense of humor intact, even after surgery. :)

He was very happy to see Daddy after he woke up. It's a special treat to have him come with to the hospital. He only takes off work for surgeries and other major stuff.

He decided he'd had enough and he wanted to leave. Was only maybe 20 minutes after waking up and he was up and crawling on the bed!

I told him he's hooked to the wall and we can't go anywhere. He must've understood because he started pulling at his tubes to get them off!

Daddy's hat is lots of fun, it distracted him for a few extra minutes so I could ask the nurse to unhook him.

This was the day before surgery. He has hair now! Not much, but they say it should keep coming in. His chemo for Maintenance isn't the type to cause hair loss. Looks like he'll get hair before Dawson did after all!

Dawson got very tired playing at Grandma's house on Surgery Day. He slept in the car and proceeded to fall asleep on the couch after we got home! He never did wake up, we put him to bed and he slept all night. He went to bed 3 hours early!!

Cute sleepy boy. He's been going to bed earlier these days. Bedtime is very easy too, I just tell him to go to bed and he goes to his room.

I found watermelon flavored snow cone syrup tonight at Walmart! I wasn't even looking, but there it was. I couldn't find it anywhere so I'd given up looking very hard. I flavored his chemo with it tonight and he seemed to like it a little better. Hopefully he'll tolerate it better with that in there.

Making Progress

We've been very busy here lately. Lots going on and no time at the end of the day to make a post! Unfortunately we have some cold/allergy thing here now. I've been stuffed up. I thought it was allergies, but today I was extremely tired and achy, so I'm thinking it's a cold. Dawson seems to have the same thing tonight, he went to bed early, but woke up later, moaning. Tyler has been sneezing some and sleeping a lot, but seems ok.

I've been getting some spring cleaning done. We found a set of bunk beds by the dumpster, we have some people moving out and throwing a lot of things away. So I had to clean out to make room for that until we get hardware and stuff to set it up with. I got a bookshelf cleaned off and all the boy's books on it. I got the winter stuff out of their dressers and put some summer clothes in it. I still need to find the rest of Dawson's summer clothes. I know where they are, just have to sort through the bag. I found summer stuff for Tyler and a few new outfits for Dawson at a couple of sales recently, so I think we're set for a while, unless someone has  major growth spurt.

Dawson has been doing great. He has new words coming more frequently now. He loves helping me cook and make things. He goes into the kitchen and says "eat", then happily pushes his chair over to the counter to help me out. Today I asked him to give Tyler a yogurt melt and tell him to eat it and that it's yummy. I wasn't expecting him to actually say it! He said "baby, num num" and tried to put it right in Tyler's mouth. Tyler then took it and actually considered eating it. He also said "banana" today, while I was making banana bread. He babbles at people just like he thinks he's carrying on a conversation with them, it's really cute.

Tyler has been doing good too. He had an infection in his diaper area, but after using some Bactroban on it, it seems to be better. I still made an appointment with the pediatrician like they suggested. That will double as his pre-op appointment, so now we won't have to get to the hospital quite so early this time. Now we have to be there at 11:30am, instead of  10am. Unfortunately now that road construction has started, we have to leave more time for delays and stuff. I'm just glad we don't have to go back and forth as much as we did last summer, that was horrible dealing with all that road construction on the freeway.

I got a call from the county, they added up Tyler's 1 year questionnaire results and it showed that he's behind on Communication and Problem Solving. She went over my answers to see if he's doing any of those things now and he's no longer behind in the Problem Solving. He started doing some of those things shortly after I sent it off, so I wasn't too surprised at that. He seems to figure out things pretty quick. They are sending a request into the school district to have a teacher come out for Tyler, like they do for Dawson. They are impressed that he's doing so well on chemo. It usually messes with their Neurological development, but he seems to be doing ok so far. They still want to keep on top of things though, which is good.

Tyler on Easter at my Grandma's house. He really needed a good nap.

Dawson after his haircut. I wasn't too impressed, they left a lot of long hair I thought, so I cut it shorter. Maybe I'll just do it myself from now on.

Tyler in his infant carrier. He has so much growing room at the top yet! I have a feeling he'll be in that for quite some time. I'm very happy about that, I'm hoping to at least make it through the summer so he can have the sun protection. I just have to find the sunshade I bought for it last summer. It seems to have gotten lost in the crazy shuffle of all our inpatient stuff last summer. I didn't need it anymore, I know I brought it home, but who knows where I tossed it to deal with it later!

Tyler crawling around. He really gets around everywhere now. He prefers cruising furniture and things if possible. I'm sure he'll be walking before we know it.

Dawson trying on the baby sunglasses. They don't quite fit him because they just wrap around his head and the band is small, so it falls and pushes on his ears. At least he's interested in them now. I think I'll get him his own pair for this summer. I also need to find Tyler a hat for his little bald head! He'll be very prone to sunburn with his very pale skin.

Tyler's chest x-ray showing his flipped port. Thankfully it flipped back on it's own.

Tyler's First Bath without Hickman!

Not much new here. Still going outside whenever we can. It's really tiring Dawson out at the end of the day, as you can see here. He fell asleep 2 hours before bedtime the 2nd day, and stayed asleep when I put him to bed! So now his bedtime is 2 hours earlier, which is what I was aiming to do anyway. :)

Tyler's steri-strips came off his old hickman site, it's looking great! A bit discolored, but that's normal to be like that for a while.

Tyler's meds on Monday. Now we're down 1 or 2, depending on how he's feeling. He's been fighting his meds bad though. Just 1 syringe takes 2-5 hours to get into him. :(

Dawson and Tyler's 1 year pics! I just had to compare, so I layed them side by side and took a pic. A definite resemblance! They have the same nose, ears, cheeks, eye shape. Tyler just has a bit more pudge in the face. Tyler still has blue eyes though, and Dawson has my hazel eyes. I'm hoping Tyler's will stay blue.

Tyler was being clingy the other day, so I left him in the carrier after doing laundry. He stayed in there for 30 minutes and only wanted out because he was too hot.

Dawson stands here a lot. It's what he does when he wants to go outside! As you can see, it was a bit dark for that at the time! That doesn't seem to bother him though. We have gone out a couple times just after dark, because there's lights over there, but I don't like going out too late.

"Will being cute help my case?"  He does this a lot. If in doubt, look really cute so Mom has to say yes!

I got new shoes! My old ones were really bad, they've had holes in the toes for the past year! So I found the red ones on sale for a really good deal. I was going to get more Asics, but these Sauconys were more supportive and the same price. I was aiming for blue, I'm not much of a red person, but I'm getting used to them. I forget how white new shoes are! My old ones used to be that white too!

Bathtime! Tyler's first bath after his hickman was removed. This will be his 3rd real bath since diagnosis. It was just too much of a hassle with the tape and saran wrap. He'd be so mad by the time he was all taped up that he didn't enjoy his bath. I'm glad he liked this one though! He was unsure at first, but quickly got into it.

Didn't want Tyler bumping his head, so I got this for the spout. Is it bad that I didn't get it for Dawson? I guess Dawson never really moved around much in the tub. Tyler is already exploring!

Dawson quickly got in next to me and was playing with Tyler.

So I just put Dawson in there too. Tyler was already getting brave enough to stand!

Mohawk! It was too long to stand on it's own. His hair is really getting long!

Tyler's incision after the tape came off. It looks pretty good.

Uh oh! My toes are all wrinkled!

Tyler was pretty tired after his bath.

Dawson's teacher came on Thursday. She brought the speech teacher and another lady to re-write his ISFP (goals). They also talked about summer school a bit. He'll be going either on a big bus or a van, depending on what they have available to them. He doesn't need much, just diapers, extra clothes and a notepad for communication between me and the teacher. He'll be there for 2 hours, once a week. It's 2 weeks on, 2 weeks off, so he'll go 6 times over summer. This will give him a slow introduction to school so when Fall starts, he'll be more ready for that. He'll be going 3 days per week in the fall! Crazy to think about. He did pretty good with everything the teacher brought. He's sharing with Tyler now, where he used to freak out everytime Tyler crawled anywhere near him. It doesn't bother him anymore. He doesn't throw toys when upset, he looks at the teacher for help. He loves puzzles! I definitely have some good ideas for his birthday now.