10 on Tuesday

1) Today we are 37 weeks.

2) Jesse swears that we won't make it... to this weekend.
(though he has been saying that for the last week)

3) I turn 30 on Sunday. (We had planned to go to Vegas, but I won't hold it against the little guy)

4) My sister Connie and nephew Evan get here on Friday June 19th (both of their b-days).

5) Maternity clothes are beginning NOT to fit.

6) Our house is messy and I don't have the energy, nor the desire to fix that.

7) Looking at this picture I realize that green may not be a "good color" for me. I'll blame it on the exposure.

8) Man, that is a huge belly!!! You don't realize it when it is attached to you!

9) I have a Dr. Pepper and Fruity Pebble addiction. (not at the same time) I have had to hide the box of Fruity Pebbles from Colton. There is just nothing like a big ole bowl of cereal before bed.

10) After reading Katie's story about giving birth to Bethany (last friday), IN HER CAR, I am getting nervous. Not that it will happen to me (we only live 10 minutes from the hospital), but just realizing that I will be giving birth soon. How did it sneak up so fast!!!

11) We still don't have a "concrete" name for this child. If we go with a "C", then the front runners are Carson, Carter or Connor. If we don't then our top picks are Joseph, Benjamin, Joshua... really none of these stand out. Any suggestions?

Happy 36th Jesse!

Jesse got two little boys bouncing on the bed this morning, singing happy birthday (or the Christopher version)! He got "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" and 12 frames for me to put all of his awards into and hang them in his office at work (he's been asking for 2 years!). Unfortunately we both woke up with terrible sore throats, and with our resent bout of strep throat, we decided to take a quick trip to convenience care. Thankfully negative!

Today was also Colton's spring concert. They decided to have it in the "school garden" and then serve us punch and cake!

Christopher and Jesse waiting for the program to start.

Colton and Jesse

During the program

Thought I'd add this real quick. Meant to put it with the previous post.
We took some quick pics the night I went in with the contractions ...just in case.

Mommy Do's and Dont's

Thought I needed a refresher! hee hee!
Click on picture to get a bigger size

Update: On Friday night, we had to go in the hospital. I was having contractions all afternoon and then they started coming every 3-5 minutes and lasting about 25-35 seconds (my OB said if I get more than four in an hour that I should get checked out). Well, after getting the kids settled in with Summer, we headed up to the hospital about 9:00. Though I was "softening", I was not yet dilating, so thankfully they gave me a shot to stop the contractions. Since I was 35 1/2 weeks, if I was dilating, they would have let me go into labor! The contractions slowed significantly (though didn't fully stop), and we were able to leave at about midnight. I just need to take it easy and drink a lot of fluids. (Dr. Pepper doesn't count) :)

Checklist for a great Memorial Day Weekend

Just so you know how crazy my life is right now... I actually started this blog on Monday and have had to keep saving it and coming back to it... I have to post it TODAY!

We had to have a "modified" version of Memorial Weekend, due to the fact that I choose NOT to go camping as a 8 1/2 month pregnant lady, so here is how we got all of the "fun" modified for me!!!

#1 Swimming: I thought all of the pools opened this weekend and they don't until NEXT weekend, soooo, to appease a little boy whom I promised we would go swimming... Thank you Morony Natatorium for having Open Swim!!!


#2 Stopping at DQ for Ice Cream after swimming!


#3 Bubbles, bubbles, bubbles
#4 Roasting hotdogs and "smallows" over a campfire.
#5 Consuming insane amounts of sugary, carbonated beverages! (which are typically off limits)
#6 Playing in a tent (not actually sleeping in one)

#7 Hanging out and kicking back
#8 Chilling with your brother, playing video games
Bonus: I really have been meaning to snap a picture of me and baby when I am dressed nicely, but this is me... relaxed... in comfy clothes. And yes, I still have a month to go!

5 Sick days and a fat lip

So last week I realized that if I were to home school or live in an isolated country house or Alaska (where I couldn't get the kids out most of the year), I don't think that all of the children would survive. Tuesday and Wednesday were great, when they were all cuddly, relaxed and sick feeling. But by Thursday and Friday when they were medicated and feeling good. We all got a case of cabin fever and, seriously, it was nuts! I have found that I am NOT a homebody. I may go through seasons of reclusiveness, but mostly I like to get Out!!! Any way, by the time the weekend rolled in, I was so happy that we could get out of the house and not feel like I was contaminating anyone!

My two sickies

Puzzle time

Sunday Colton and Christopher were playing on the slide in the backyard and Colton slid right into Christopher. Colton's head hit Christopher right on the top of his mouth and the result is a big, fat lip. It swelled up instantly and it wasn't until we brought out the popsicle and bubbles, did the tears disappear.

Showing his fat lip (this was actually this morning,
so it has gone down significantly)

Side profile of the fat lip

"really, mom, do you think you have enough pictures?"
(his nose crusties are gone!!! Hallelujah! :) )

Still healing

After 2 days of oral antibiotics and Neosporin for the outside, Christopher is healing really well! There are still some red sores, but all of the yellow crusties are gone! He still squeals and runs when I come near him with a tissue, but he is back to his "old self" :) Here he is kicking back in the toy room watching Cars... a new favorite.

In other news my mom is also doing well as she adjusts to life back at home. They spend a lot of time getting the juices and food prepared, but they seem to be figuring out a pretty good routine. We believe that the tumors have been affected by this and we believe that she has had a healing response. This is a journey and we will continue to pray for her.

We are also *finally* getting to work on our basement! (pictures to come) After 2 years of working towards paying off debts, we are focusing our money back into our house and we should have a completely finished basement by the time Mr. #3 arrives!!!

***Update from earlier today***
Yesterday Colton woke up with a sore throat, headache and upset stomach. Didn't think much of it until I was on WebMD checking out Impetigo and found that it could be a strain of Strep. Joy! So took Colton into dr, strep test came up negative (sigh of relief), but still kept him home from school. This morning forced Colton to see if he "could make it til lunch time". Got a call at 9:30 that he was in the nurses office, so went and picked him up. Thought that he was "crying wolf" a little, but let him come home. Got a call at 3:30 this afternoon, his 24 strep test came up positive. Ugh. Oh well, now I won't have to worry about him getting Impetigo since both of them will be on antibiotics. Well off I go to wash linens and pillows in hot water and disinfect more toys!!!

Quarantined-Warning Graphic Nose Crusties

Impetigo. I had heard of it. Knew it was something to be avoided. Didn't realize it would be so gross!
Christopher had a runny nose, slobbery, crabby and little red spots around his mouth. Teething, right? Wrong. The dr thinks that while his nose was runny, he probably was rubbing it and got a scratch, that's how this yuck started. The picture really doesn't show how truly gross this is!

From WebMD:

Impetigo is a bacterial skin infection that is caused by strep or staph bacteria. The infection often begins when bacteria that normally can be present on the skin enter a small cut or scratch.

Symptoms of impetigo include honey-colored, crusty, oozing blisters or sores, most often between the upper lip and nose. The blisters commonly occur after a cold. The sores can appear anywhere on the body. Scratching the blisters may spread impetigo to other parts of the body. Impetigo is more common in children than adults.

Impetigo is treated with antibiotics.

This is Christopher's first taste of antibiotics, so I paid the extra $2 to get it grape flavored. After 24 hours, his spirits are a little better and I finally got him to eat a little something (not sure if his throat is sore too).

PS Please pray protection from this for Emily, Noah, and Hannah, Benjamin and Levi (who we played with most of the day Saturday! (yup, I was the mom who had to sheepishly call the other parents to let them know I probably infected their kids!)

Also, John, Christi and Isaac, he's only contagious for 48 hours after antibiotics, so you don't have to be afraid to visit us this next weekend!!!

Hippotherapy doesn't involve Hippos.

Hippotherapy is using horses in physical therapy. Colton has the opportunity to ride horses once a week to help him with his Sensory Integration/Processing issues. We hope that they will directly help him with his confidence/self esteem, de-sensitize his overactive proprioceptive sense (his body in space/balance), and strengthen his "low tone" core muscles. Besides it is really cool and none of the other kids in his class got to skip lunch and go to "horse lessons"!!!

Learning to care for the horses. This is Sunny

Taking Dancer for a walk

Getting to ride on Dancer

He was very concerned that they were going to step in the horse poop.

"We've got the old Julie back!"

Here's another update about my mom! She is doing great at the clinic and the few that have got to talk with her have said "Sounds like the old Julie!" She's hopeful and seems really excited to get home and implement all that she is learning. Just like some one with an allergy or diabetes, she knows that this diet is going to be her new way of life.

Carrie has been our main connection with my mom and Bob, and she says it best:

I spoke with Mom today and she's sounding better than ever! After she got back from Iowa City, it really seemed as though all hope was gone, she'd planned her funeral and that we had very little time left with her. She's been at the Gerson Institute almost 6 days now and she sounds so full of hope its almost as if she might just get a 2nd chance at life. All of her vices are gone (alcohol, cigarrettes, etc) and although she's not completely enjoying the diet (vegan with only organic fruits, veggies and carrot juice on the hour) along with the body detox, you can tell she's starting to feel better as her spunk is back and it's now driving her crazy that the dr's just want her to rest when she feels as though she wants to be up doing things again.

There are only 10 patients with their companions allowed at one time and they've gotten to meet people from Korea, Alaska, other parts of the US and Canada, but are becoming friends with another couple from Michigan, where the wife also has Skin Cancer Melanoma. She's an RN nurse apparently at a hospital in Michigan and watched too many people in similar instances die from the chemo/radiation and chose this route instead. Her case is of course not as advanced as Mom's is, but her choice in treatments is inspiring. Today she also gets to meet Charlotte Gerson (photo to the right), the founder of the institute whose father developed the therapy that has helped so many become cancer free. She sounded really excited to get to sit down and talk with her today. As Charlotte says at 88 years old "the only way to prove the nay-sayers wrong is to continue to out live them" :)

There was one minor setback in that they tried to give her an anti-inflammatory hoping to help reduce the swelling/tumors in her eye and apparently she's allergic to it as they ended up having to visit the ER. She was initially concerned going to a Mexican hospital, but she said you wouldn't believe it. She wanted to take a picture to show us, as she said it was cleaner, nicer and a better experience than any she's ever had in the US. She was in and out in a half hour. They did an x-ray of her heart and lungs and said they were all clear and everything's looking good. Although the skin cancerous lesions are on the muscles surrounding the organs, it doesn't seem as though they're impacting the functionality of those organs.

They expect her to have her first healing response in the next few days where the dead cancer cells will be expelled from her body. She could have a fever/nausea during that time as the toxins build up and release, but it's all a good sign.

Again, thank you for the continued thoughts and prayers, though this is going to be a journey with a lot of ups and downs, it seems as though things are getting "brighter by the day", so THANKS!

Here are a few links if you are interested in learning more about the Baja NutriCare Institute and the Gerson Therapy

http://www.bajanutricare.com/index.htm

http://www.gerson.org/

Icebreaker 2009

Before the race with the "Icebreaker Penguin"
and the Stanford Wolves Mascot

Colton very excited to start the race.

After the race with our medals.
(I think I should've ordered a larger size shirt!)

Made it through the race, and

fell asleep on the way to the car!

Julie update

My sister briefly talked on the phone with my mom this evening and she seems to be doing really well. The clinic (Baja Nutricare) seems really nice and they feel really safe. Her bloodwork looks good and she will get to meet with a specialist on Monday. She also said that they been giving her a lot of supplements and are always handing her some type of juice, so much that when they tell them it is lunch or dinner, they are never hungry.

Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers, Cortney

Pray for my Mom and Stepdad

Most recent family picture taken over Easter vacation.
(front l-r): Colton, Grandma Pat, Julie, Bob, Kacie
(back):Christopher, Jesse, Cortney, Brent with Evan, Connie with Blake, Carrie, GT, Ashlee, John, Christi with Isaac




Here's an email from my sister explaining everything:



Just wanted to thank all of you for your continued thoughts and prayers on our family as my mom endures the "fight for her life". We've had a lot of trying moments recently (loss of Bob's dad, loss of GT's grandma, etc), although we've also gotten to share a lot of special moments with so many friends and family, so we have much to be thankful for.

Just a quick update, but last Friday my mom's dr's told us that the Temodar they were treating her with isn't working and the Melanoma cancer has now spread to her bones, her spine and what were small tumors just a few weeks ago have become masses and continues to spread throughout her body. They're nervous about the cancer breaking her bones or getting into her spinal cord which will cause immediate paralysis. In short, there is nothing more they can offer her other than a very toxic chemo that we understand doesn't help Melanoma patients and she most likely wouldn't make it out alive. The dr's are all shocked she still isn't in a lot of pain and can still walk, so we're all very thankful for that.

With very little time left on our hands and no other options in the US, we're turning to alternative medicine. They can't administer natural healing methods in the US because it can't be patented nor considered a drug but we were able to get her approved into the Gerson Institute/Baja Nutri Care Center in Tijuana Mexico where for the next 2 weeks she will undergo a complete body detox with a very specific organic, vegan diet that will build up her immune system to cause the cancer cells to naturally die off. There is a lot of cancer to "flush" through her system, so she'll endure a lot of ups and downs, but she's very strong willed so we're hopeful she can make it through.

With all the research we've done and all the success stories, the Gerson Therapy has the best results for Melanoma patients in particular so we're hopeful we still have enough time for her body to begin healing itself.

During my mom's "retreat" we may hear very little as far as updates, but we'll post anything we feel appropriate onto my sister Cortney's blog at:
http://cortneyatchley.blogspot.com/

Love, Carrie

My sister also didn't mention that they don't allow smoking, so she will be going "cold turkey" after smoking for over 30 years. Just this alone is going to be a challenge, so if all of your prayers could be directed toward her, my stepdad Bob (who will be with her and going through the diet also), her speedy healing and God's hand working in all of this!
On behalf of my family, we thank you!

Happy 2nd Bday Christopher!

Happy Birthday Christopher James!!! I can't believe that he is already 2!

Less than a week old

First Birthday!

Birthday Breakfast

I couldn't figure a way to get a candle to stand up in his cereal,
so he just got to eat the "shmallow" afterward!

Back from Iowa- Tadpole Hunting

My camera started acting goofy, so I don't have any pictures of: Easter, the boys' birthday party, plane rides, Iowa City, hanging out, etc. The only photographic proof that I have is from the afternoon after we took family portraits, we went tadpole hunting in the pond in my sister's front yard. My sister has land that is every little boys (or girls) dream- big pond stocked with frogs, fish and tadpoles, mounds of dirt, tractors, sticks, mud, atvs, deer, campfire, everything a growing kid needs.

Excited about the tadpoles!

Aunt Connie helping with the catching

Found a snail shell

Funny story: Evan (3, in red) claimed this frog as his friend and the next morning (Easter), he excitedly ran out to check his frog, droopily came inside and said
"The easter bunny let my frog go." (a little easter candy made everything better!)

John helping Connie dig out frog carcasses. A late, deep freeze killed a bunch of the frogs, so Connie (always curious to look at scientific/gross things) couldn't help herself.

Connie showing Colton the dead frog!

Christopher squeezing... er, catching a tadpole.

Kacie and the tadpoles

Hello Spring Break!

Colton showing off his 2nd book award
he was awarded at last night's AWANA Ceremony
-with his favorite teacher

Nothing says "Welcome Spring Break" like a sprinkle doughnut!

Before

After