kali alexa

Sweet little Kali (my cousin Tracey's baby) passed away on Saturday. Although she had a myriad of health problems due to her prematurity, it was thought that she had a decent chance of getting out of the hospital. Unfortunately, it wasn't to be. Our family is heartbroken for Kali and her parents. We are off to the funeral tomorrow.

great news!!!

Dolan's test results all came back in the clear! The cancer hasn't metastasized, and the tumor biopsy came back as a low-risk type of neuroblastoma. He'll be closely monitored for some time yet, but it's extremely likely that he may get out of this without even needing chemo or radiation! It's the best, best case scenario, and I am thrilled for D and his family. Thanks to everyone that kept Dolan in their prayers. But keep sending good thoughts their way, as well as my cousin's baby, Kali, who is still awaiting the results of her liver biopsy. Here's a link to my cousin's blog for anyone who knows Tracy and wants to follow Kali's progress:

http://ourspecialbaby.blogspot.com/

I know I owe a post, or twenty. I am the worst blogger ever. I am just soooooo freaking tired after chasing our maniac around. Just as an example, today I made the mistake of trying to get some shopping done at the mall since I am lacking in summer maternity clothes. While in the dressing room, I gave Graydon some crackers to try to distract him. He immediately dumped them all on the floor, then stomped on them and ground them into tiny pieces. Then, while I was trying to clean up cracker crumbs, he grabbed my pants (I was in my underwear) and took off running toward the store exit/into the mall. So I had to throw on the pants I was trying on and sprint after him, by which time he had already made it out the door and was heading for the escalators, all the while laughing hysterically. So I ran out and grabbed him while wearing my as of yet not paid for pants and the store alarm went off. Sigh. Then I had to convince the store employees that I wasn't in fact shoplifting. Then I felt guilty because of the store alarm and the crackers mess and so I bought the pants even though I don't like them. And seriously, at this point we had only been at the mall for fifteen minutes.

We lasted only ten more, after an ill-considered detour into a toy store, in which Graydon threw a MASSIVE fit because I wouldn't take the trucks out of their boxes so he could play with them. He swept an entire shelf of stuffed animals onto the floor, and after I spent five minutes putting them all back in place, I had enough and we were out of there. Time spent to get to the mall and back? 50 minutes. Time spent in the mall itself? Twenty, MAYBE twenty-five after paying for parking. It suuuucked.

How in the world do people manage this with TWO? arrgh.

crapola

Just wrote a long post and then accidentally deleted it. Argh. Will try again tomorrow.








In the meantime, please keep Dolan and my cousin's daughter, Kali, in your thoughts. Dolan is undergoing more tests this week to figure out which type of treatments will work best against his specific type of cancer. And Kali, born ten weeks premature, is battling a host of issues and undergoes a liver biopsy tomorrow morning. I am so sad for all these sick babies and their families; what the hell is going on here?

glen echo

So, haven't posted much about El Segundo. He/She is doing well and has begun to make his presence known by pummeling my innards, ow. Last time my placenta was in the anterior position, meaning right against my belly, so it muffled most of the early blows. This time around, no such luck, and el segundo is taking full advantage of that fact. But it's comforting to feel him rolling around in there, even if he is apparently practicing ju-jitsu.

We had the ultrasound last week, and as promised, we did NOT find out the gender. It's pretty fun to be kept in suspense (and to keep everyone else in suspense, as well!) Not even my doctor knows the gender, so you know I couldn't cheat even if I wanted to. Today I went out and bought some cute non-gender specific decorations for the new baby's room. So it's official- we know nothing. Except that all sonograms and blood work have been coming back normal, so hopefully we will have a healthy baby at the end of all this nonsense.

Here are some pictures from our recent trip to Glen Echo park with the goose. They have an amazing antique merry-go-round and we thought Graydon would love it. Then we stood in line and saw the look on his face and thought, well, love may be too strong a word... And actually, he was ok on the ride. He definitely wasn't smiling, but neither was he shrieking in terror. If anything, he just looked a little.... confused? surprised?slightly horrified? Meanwhile, his parents the oldtimers were standing on either side of his horse, trying not to get sick. I swear, this carousel CRUISED. It was so fast! I don't remember my childhood rides being that fast. I could only stare at Graydon's face and hold on tight, otherwise I was going to get dizzy and puke. At least I could blame it on my pregnancy, JC had no such excuse for going green around the gills.

Arriving at the park- Gray is obsessed with airplanes, trucks and buses. Here he is pointing out a plane overhead:

Checking out the ride:

Standing in line, waiting to get in- still in a pretty good mood here:

Waiting for the ride to get moving:

Aaaaaand.... this is the face we saw for the rest of the ride. I wish I had more pictures but I was too busy hanging on for dear life. He was definitely a little bit WTH is going on here!

Still pissed off about the carousel, and now hot, too:

Perked up when he saw the antique rusted train (even though he ran around it yelling "Buh! BUH! BUH!" ("bus", it's what he calls all big moving objects):

Got his hands dirty in the giant sandbox:

Walked off into the sunset with his daddy:

Good times.

preview

Last week I got a taste of what it's going to be like to take care of two children. On Tuesday, Gray and I decided on a whim to check out Frying Pan Park in Herndon, Va. One of my friends from work had just gone there and said it was awesome. Since Graydon loves farm animals and is currently obssessed with his tractor book, I thought it would be a surefire hit. So we packed up and hit the road. On our way out of the city, I got a call from my dad's dentist. Turns out that my dad was downtown getting a procedure done on his teeth, for which they had to give him valium. 5 mg didn't work, so he took 10 mg. And then proceeded to become so gorked out that the dentist refused to let him leave the office unsupervised. Apparently he had tried to take the metro but missed the stop 3 times, gah. Luckily, we were still in the city so we swung by and picked a very spacey Poppa T up, and dragged him to the park with us.







While there, Gray and my dad had very parallel experiences. Both lurched around unsteadily, occasionally babbled nonsense, and stared vacantly into the distance.



Graydon did become markedly more animated when we saw the tractors. He was much more interested in the tractors than he was the farm animals.





And strangely enough, so was Poppa T:



All in all, I think we all enjoyed ourselves. I'm not really sure. I wasn't able to understand a word that came out of either of their mouths.





***Dolan update*** Dolan's surgery was mostly successful- his parents are just waiting on the pathology report to come back. Please keep the prayers and good karma flowing that it's good news.

big D

This is Dolan, Graydon's wingman and one of his best buds. In addition to his undeniable good looks, he is just a sweet baby and an all around great little guy. Gray and I love to go over and visit with Dolan and his mama, Lorin, especially since Lorin is pregnant and due just a short time before me! Hopefully our next babies will be just as great friends as these two hams.

But right now Big D needs all the love and prayers and good karma that you're able to send his way. He goes in tomorrow for a major, totally unexpected surgery. It absolutely sucks and although I know Dolan is a tough little nut and will be fine, it's just a bit of a rough road and I really feel for his family. So please, send your good thoughts and prayers his way, he's such a good baby and his parents are so awesome. Best of luck tomorrow, Big D! We love you guys and will be thinking about you nonstop.

teaser

Yes, I know, I know. It's been a while. And although I am feeling better most of the time, I am still super tired so I am off to bed. But I first wanted to post some pictures of the cutest toddler of all time so you don't forget what he looks like. I will post a real post this week I PROMISE!