Blue Angels Airshow

Dawson went to school Wednesday and Tyler got counts checked. I took the boys swimming for the first time this summer on Thursday. They did great. Dawson still prefers being in a baby/toddler floaty, so I pulled them both around in their floaties for quite a while. They loved it. Tyler had his ENT appointment, that went great. They say he has no hearing loss.

We went to the Blue Angels Airshow through HopeKids, an organization who gets cancer families into events and activities for free. Since our kids have such low immunity, they often offer private showings at theaters and other events. We got into the Airshow the day before the public was invited, while they were doing their full dress rehearsal.

This plane carries troops and cargo

F22 Fighter Jet. It was so loud! Very awesome!

Tyler's hearing protection. He left them alone until the end, surprisingly. They go over instead of inside the ear canal since babies have sensitive ear canals and shouldn't have plugs shoved in them.

Dawson with Dan's ear muffs he wears for work. This was as enthused as he got, he wasn't too amused by the end of the show, he just wanted out of the stroller.

Blue Angels Jets. There were 6 of them.

Some tricks they were doing

Another plane, can't remember the name of this one

The Blue Angels flew in very close formation

I like this pic of them all heading toward us

Tyler was bored at the end so I let him walk around. There was another little boy his age wandering around too. The hardest part of these events is seeing all the sick kids.

It's Been 1 Year Since Diagnosis!!

It sure has been a really long year, but we made it. Halfway done with treatment! We have 1 year to go, or 52 weeks or 363 days, whichever sounds better, I haven't decided yet (see sidebar). ;)  He just got put back on chemo because his counts came back great! Yay for good counts! Now I don't have to worry so much during our trip. It was nice only bringing Tyler into the clinic for once. I didn't even have to use the stroller! It's been a while since that's happened. He weighed 21 pounds 15 ounces. 1 ounce up from a couple weeks ago. Hopefully he'll continue to gain!

Here's Tyler with Dr. Brew, his pediatrician who found the Leukemia and sent us to Children's. Tyler wasn't so thrilled, we had just poked his finger for labs and did an exam. Perhaps I should have thought to break out the camera before we tortured him.

Dawson went to school again today. He cried when I put him on the bus, but when I got him off the bus he grinned and said "bus, happy". So maybe that was him reassuring me that he had a good day? I checked his communication notebook and sure enough, his teacher said he had a good day. He still loves to count, he can do 2-6 now. He skips 1 for some reason and pauses after 6 to have me say the rest. Just last week he was just doing 2-3, then 2-4. He counts everything. Boxes on shelves in the store, people, whatever he finds he can count.
He also tries to recognize letters. While unloading groceries tonight, I had put in a Blues Clues movie for the boys so I can get things done. Dawson met me at the door saying J-O-E! Joe! Wow. He's definitely very interested in learning lately and it's been a lot of fun. We point out letters and words in the store, as well as colors and shapes. I pretty much let him decide when he wants to. I'll point things out sometimes, but it's rarely necessary. He's usually busy saying HI! to everyone in the store or counting things. In Target he wanted to walk, so I let him. That went well at first, but slowly he started defying his limits and ended up back in the stroller. He pushed it for a while and was listening well for longer than I expected, so I was happy with his progress. :)

Dawson has been fulfilling his duty as the troublesome toddler. Yesterday he brought me 5 squished bananas, because he'd tried to open them. I had to clean up pop that he'd gotten out of the fridge and spilled under the fridge. He kept stopping the music I was playing, it's a rare treat for a reason. It's hardly worth the battle to try to listen to it! He also tried to help me with supper while I changed Tyler. He's very good about knowing that the stove is hot, but still thinks it's his job to stir whatever I have cooking. He slopped the stuff all over the stove, so I had that to clean up when I got back.

I cleaned out the diaper bag and reorganized using a smaller bag since I don't need to carry the central line kit with me anymore and they're using less diapers on an outing now. By smaller I mean I was using a really huge one and now I'm using a regular diaper bag sized one. I went out of the room, for either a Tyler diaper or to use the bathroom and came back out to find the contents of my nicely arranged diaper bag all over the floor and Dawson was eating a sucker he found hidden in there!

Dan found out how 'fun' he is this morning when he was watching him while I napped. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night, so Tyler and I took a nap. Dawson squished a banana into the mini trampoline, found the kitchen garbage bag roll and ran with it from our room to the living room, thus unraveling it the entire way. While Dan was fixing that, he hid my hairbrush and then ran off with the 2nd roll of garbage bags. All this was within about 10 minutes. I think Dan looked happy to be heading to work!

Jenny and I got out on a much needed sanity date on Monday. We went to Olive Garden, Munsinger Gardens and Target. Us moms can't get out of the house without taking advantage of the peaceful shopping. ;)  It was relaxing to get out again.

Tyler without a shirt. He was getting really hot. You can see the bump from his port and I hate how his ribs stick out these days! He needs some more meat on his bones.

Tyler's scar is still pretty dark but it seems shorter now for some reason

Dawson put on a big smile for the camera

It's tough choosing pics to post here when my subject is so darn cute! So here's a bunch of my youngest cute boy. :) 

I'm loving the zoom on my camera. Here's the moon tonight. If you click to make it bigger you can see the little craters around the edges on the left. Those darker spots are lower spots on the moon. The view was clearer on the camera, I was having a hard time holding still enough to focus good with Tyler bouncing around next to me.

Father's Day

We had a good day today. The boys and I went to my parent's house and Dan stayed home and got a lot of things done. He's very close to being able to sell his car. Dawson was very excited to be going to Grandma's. He excitedly kept saying "auntie" and even said "grandpa" when I was talking about it. He showed off his shape knowledge skills and overall cuteness. I thought I heard Tyler say "done" after supper when I asked if he was done. I wasn't quite sure, but my brother thought he heard the same thing, so maybe he did! Exciting, he hasn't picked up a new word in almost a year. I really wish our apartment had more windows. The living room has none, just the patio door between the kitchen and living room. It still seems like a big dark corner in the living room, so it's hard getting decent pics in there. So of course I had to take advantage of the good lighting and get some pics of the boys. :)

Dan watched the kids while I showered this morning, so I had to get a couple pics. I was trying to get Dawson's attention and he ended up copying me.

I was spinning him in my mom's computer chair. He loved it and it got him to hold still and smile for some pics. 

Then Tyler decided to join us. Awesome! Dawson was more than happy to have him join in, he scooted over and even put his arm around Tyler. So cute! I love how brotherly he can be these days.

Tyler looks up to something here, I see this look a lot! ;)

Dawson has such a cute smile!

I love this last one!

Dawson Started Preschool!

Dawson started summer preschool this Tuesday (16th) and seemed to like it. He hesitated a bit getting on the bus and was quiet while we buckled him in. His teacher said he was a bit sad at first but he quickly got to having fun and had a pretty good first day. He even played with a couple kids, which he usually doesn't do. He'll take the toys and go find a quiet place to play.

 Heading out to the road to wait for the bus. He was excited to be going somewhere, he's always interested in seeing what the day will bring and is always excited when I tell him to put on his shoes.

 Bus! Dawson was interested, Mommy wanted to run back inside with her little baby!

 The bus lady was very nice and Dawson seemed to know she was there to help him.

 He was very quiet, looking around. Wasn't quite sure what to think.

 All buckled up, still not sure what to think, but didn't protest as I left. At least not that I heard!

Wheels! We were at the mall in the nursing room and the stroller got tipped over.

 I was taking some pics outside today. Dawson kept dragging a lawn chair out into the parking lot. Thankfully it was the middle of the afternoon and nobody was coming or going!

Goofy kid!

Yes, Tyler is in his pajama shirt! He's been sleeping in lately and then we got company (outside) so I hadn't bothered to change his shirt yet. He loves being outside. :)

I thought the brick would make a good background, but he didn't think holding still was a good idea. I still like this one though. It's different seeing him with such short hair, it'll take some getting used to!

Is he cute, or what?!

 That cute over the shoulder look is a bit much!

  

Dawson and Tyler in one spot! Doesn't happen too often. I was bummed that I missed Dawson's original reaction on camera. I was waiting for protest, but instead he said "aww" and gave Tyler a big hug! For once it was Tyler who wanted out of the chair and away from his brother.

June Update

It's been almost a month since my last update! So much going on and it seems like the longer I don't get to updating, the more intimidating it seems! So much happens in just a month!

Dan just got a raise! So happy about that, they've been on a wage freeze for the last couple reviews he's had, but they called him into the office last night and gave him the good news. He's been busy working and trying to get his huge list of things to do done. Most of these things to do, at least the ones on the top of the list require him going to his parent's house, so we've had some lonely weekends without him but he's been getting a lot done.

I donated my hair the last Tuesday in May. Feels good getting that thick hair off my back and neck in this heat! I've been working on sorting and organizing things around the apartment. So many things were just shoved aside after Tyler was diagnosed, it's a big task trying to tackle it all now. Things are starting to look better, it's a slow ongoing thing and I'm trying to keep to 1 area at a time so I can more easily see the progress. I've also lost 8 pounds this month. I've been walking, biking and eating a lot better these days.

Before

After

 Dawson is growing by leaps and bounds. His language has improved a lot. He says and signs "more" without prompting, comes over and says "help" if he needs something, rather than whining and throwing himself around. He now repeats just about any 1 word object you say, or tries to. He loves counting, he knows 2,3,4 and can do that part by himself if he's not being bashful. He loves looking at all his counting books, watching his counting movie and he often brings me things to count. Just today he repeated the alphabet as I was saying each letter. While watching a movie about shapes, they were on "square", and he got excited, said "square" and ran across the room and brought me a square from his shape sorting set! He also knows circle. He's getting into the alphabet too, he seems to like "E", he repeats the letters when he hears them, he can say most of them. He had a WIC appointment today, he is 34 pounds and 36 inches.

Dawson's bed with the cars comforter. He likes his bed.

Dawson got a permanent blue marker and drew on himself, my leg, the carpet, cube slide, chest freezer, a couple end tables and a few toys. Thankfully the carpet wasn't much, just a couple long lines, but still! It's probably up for replacement by the time we move out anyway.

I finally got the trampoline back out for him. I had put it in our room after he got the staples in his head.

 We went to my mom's house this week and I asked her to give Dawson a buzz cut. His hair is just growing too much in some areas and not enough in others. I wasn't happy with the last haircut he got at the kid's hair place, so I thought this would even it all out and hopefully stimulate it to grow better. I came prepared with the portable DVD player, suckers and bubbles. Amazingly enough we only went through 1 sucker and didn't need the bubbles! He enjoyed watching Word World and wasn't as afraid of the shaver as I thought he'd be.

 He did squirm and flinch a lot though, I bet it felt funny. I love this pic!

 All done! The sides in the front have never really grown much at all, I'm hoping they'll come in! It's still baby fuzz there! He continued to sit and watch to the end of the show.

Tyler is making lots of progress also. He's eating better, he still sucks and spits food out, but he's starting to eat some things now. He ate a jar of baby food this week also and actually swallowed it, so that's a good start. Must be working because he gained a few ounces this month! He had a 3 week cold that really knocked his counts down. They are still dropping, though he's not showing any symptoms anymore. I hope they'll recover soon!
He was taking a few steps a month ago, now he's walking all over the place! He can walk across a room now, though he's still working on balance. He can even stop and change direction without falling most of the time. I'm sure by next month he'll be running all over the place!

Tyler is officially qualified for Early Intervention. His speech is behind and he's just slightly behind in some other categories. They tested his hearing and he had fluid in his one ear. They are worried because the hearing test showed that he can't hear certain tones. The Dr laughed it off, saying that nobody should test while they have a cold. The evaluator is all worked up about it though, she insists that he has hearing damage. He has an ENT appointment on the 25th, so hopefully that will come quickly so we can see what's really going on.

His favorite thing to play with is cars. It has to be on a surface though, not on the floor. He usually likes to play on the trampoline, couch, computer desk or chair. Dawson often takes his cars away, which is becoming more difficult to deal with since Dawson loves all the cars too. Tyler is very patient and will usually just look for another one, though I've been working on getting them to share.

We participated in the Relay for Life at the Apollo High School in town. It was fun, we met many other cancer patients, mostly adults but there was 1 other child there that we saw too. Tyler was the youngest survivor by 2 years. He really enjoyed the music and all the people. It made me realize we haven't really done much like this since he was diagnosed. We usually avoid large crowds. Thankfully he was good about wearing his mask until the crowd thinned out. I let him have it off when there were very little people around, since it gets very hot and uncomfortable. We even found someone willing to watch Dawson in a pinch if we need it.

The survivor signatures. Tyler's is by the marker in the lower left corner.

Thought it'd be fitting for Tyler to wear this shirt to the Relay.

Taking a break. The boys both loved the bleachers. It gave Dan and I some time to rest while they wore themselves out climbing, though we ended up climbing with them.

Tyler was being such a ham! He was crawling around the gym smiling and marching big steps with his head up as he crawled. He got lots of laughs and everyone thought he was pretty cute.

The boys in the gym. They were having lots of fun and thankfully Dawson kept to the gym most of the time.

Even though it's not Tyler's bedtime, they brush their teeth together and get on their pajamas. They both like brushing and I think it's so cute seeing them both sitting there watching each other. After diapers and pajamas I tuck Dawson in bed and Tyler comes over and I put him in Dawson's bed also. He snuggles up to Dawson, who giggles and then Tyler grins and wants out. He does that every night now, Dawson even sits up in bed and waits for Tyler to come over, it's adorable!

I love these monkey pajamas, they're so cute! The only thing is, it's a reminder of how little he still is.

This pic was taken around the end of July 2009, after a friend visited and gave him these PJs. Almost a year has passed and he's still wearing them. They fit better in the legs now, but the shirt fits the same. If anything, it's a bit looser now than a year ago because he was pretty swollen in the belly from his liver and spleen then and still had a lot of baby chub. He's a little longer now and definitely thinner. I'm pretty tired of the same wardrobe though. I finally got a bag of clothes off Craigslist just to see him in something different! So now he has more than I'd usually get, but I couldn't take it anymore!

My little troublemaker! He sure knows it too. I folded that leaf down so he couldn't crawl onto the table anymore. Apparently he wasn't going to let that stop him! Now I have the leaf back up and a small toy box up there, so there's no room for him anymore.