Hanging out at Scottish Rite clinic together...


Not too surprising-me and Sam are very sick with whatever Connor has had...never had a sore throat like this before! Hopefully we will be better soon-Sam is planning on going to the doctor tomorrow and me on Friday. We didn't make it to the restaurant Saturday night :-( due to all this illness, hoping for this weekend maybe?? The rest of the kids are hanging in there, Connor is still coughing, but not as bad. We did get him checked for strep and it was negative-huge relief!

Infusion went well yesterday, Connor was thrilled to see Rebecca (his favorite nurse) and ALWAYS is happy to see Dr. George. He had brought a pack of bubble gum with him and wanted to give a piece to each of them-he did for Rebecca, but forgot to give Dr. George his piece-he was SO upset! I thought it was sweet of him since gum is one of his favorite treasures and he wanted to share it with his hospital friends. We got lucky and got our next few appts. scheduled, that is so helpful knowing what dates to plan around.

Ryan and Stacy are going to the Springer Opera House tomorrow for another field trip-this time to see the play "Inherit the Wind". They are so excited! Then lunch at St. Luke is always fun for them (not to mention a day away from classes, lol)

Samantha has been enjoying her American Girl doll Emily she got for Christmas, and her sweet Aunt Laurie gave her several little outfits today that she had mailed away for from a lady who handmakes them in China. Samantha was so happy! One is a nightgown and it was funny-as soon as me and Connor saw it we thought the same thing, it looked like it was made out of the same material that hospital gowns are made from, lol!!! He looked at it and said, "doctor" Too funny that he thought so too! I'll need to snap a pic of Emily in the gown to show you all what I mean.

So many kids are sick right now with pneumonia! I guess it is the time of year for it, but it is so scary for me to think of Connor getting it. Please keep our friends Heather and Jason's little boy Jude in your prayers-he is in the hospital right now with pneumonia...and so many others we know too are at home with it. Get well Jude!

Take care!
Debbie

Can it really be??

Sisters...

All four kids together, never happens, lol...

Connor and Samantha

Little Sami...

Stacy and Ryan

Whoa! Where did January go? I must have missed it or something in the fog of all the sickness with Connor, lol. I cannot believe next month is February! At this rate, 2010 is gonna go quickly.
All is on the mend still with Connor, down to an icky nose and bad cough...he started his steroids tonight so I am hoping it helps get rid of the cough while it does its job on keeping his immune response low. He is STILL on a jammie wearing kick, he cried Wednesday when I made him put real clothes on to go back to school in-poor guy. I'm hoping the morning goes better tomorrow.

The pics above were taken for our family pics this year (minus me and Sam) I did the shooting and he did the wrangling of Connor) I know I have a better one of all 4 of them, but it was too hard to see when I downloaded the pics. Oh well-you get the idea.

Samantha had a good report today-her reading is two years above her grade! I knew she was reading well, but it was still nice to hear. She is excited because she can check out harder books from the school library.

Stacy has started her community service work-I think it is going to go okay-my mother has offered to help with transportation (thanks mom!) She will be working at The Gardens at Calvary (the assisted living apartments for the elderly) She needs only 20 hours, but they are only letting her work in 1 1/2 hr. shifts so it is going to take almost two months to get her hours in! Yikes...Ryan will be at The Columbus Museum, but no word yet on when it starts. I hope and pray they can handle schoolwork and the volunteering at the same time, it will be a heavy load. After freshmen year it will be easier because they will have summers to get the hours in, thank goodness, they are looking forward to that! Oh, and did I mention Stacy's first day is a hospital day for us? Agg! It will all work out though, but I sure wish the location was closer to home-the place is pretty far out from our house.

Congrats to my nephew Steven, today was the 1st day he was allowed passengers in his car while he was driving. Go Steven!!! (the law is a 6 month wait after you get your license) Him and Stacy had Chinese club after school today and guess who drove her home??? YES, Steven! We are so proud of you Steven for being such a responsible young man, and a fun cousin too for the kids to look up to.

Not too much going on this weekend, depends on the weather I guess. Saturday night is going to be a LaMargarita night with the family-the restaurant looks awesome now with the new drapes in the windows! I'll bring my camera and take pics-I am so proud of how it looks, very classy and tasteful.

Thanks for the Relay For Life donations and the well wishes for Connor as honorary chair! Means the world to us knowing how loved he is.

Love to all,
Debbie

What an honor!!!

We have some very exciting news to share. Connor has been chosen as an honory chairperson for this years Relay For Life! Normally only one child is chosen to represent the entire county and this year TWO were chosen, Connor being one of them and the other being little Chloe Shiver-also diagnosed with neuroblastoma. We always enjoy relay, but this makes it even more exciting and special-we get to share Connor's story and help in the fight against cancer. This years Relay for Life will be on May 14th at Kinnett Stadium. Connor and Chloe will be leading the walk right before the luminary ceremony. I am so proud of my little guy!

Road to Recovery???

I think we are on the upswing now with Connor's virus, thank goodness! He is still coughing but the ear pain is much better and he hasn't vomited in two days. He lost some weight, I'm sure it will come right back on next week since he is due to start one of the meds that keeps him parked in front of the refrigerator, lol. He also started today the pill version of his weekend drug Septra that protects his lungs from infections immune compromised people can get. We are so proud of him for doing well with his medicine. We appreciate his willingness to take his meds even more after the past week of his vomiting EVERY time we had to give him something.

The big kids are off to spend the night at Nini's house with their cousins, no school tomorrow to everyone's delight! As for me and the little ones-no big plans. still laying low with Connor on the mend.

Thanks for all the prayers for our guy the last few weeks.
Love,
Debbie

Me & my boy...

Been spending all my time with Connor so this is my first update from my phone, exciting huh, lol? Technology is changing so fast I feel like I can hardly keep up, don't I sound old now?? Haha...

Spent last night at the doctors office after Connor started sceaming in pain about his left ear. This has all been building up since he first got sick with this virus weeks ago! He had croup and fever, major coughing, throwing up since Sunday and now the ear infection. He had to get two antibiotic shots since he is vomiting so bad. He is missing school this week but hopefully next week will bring improvement and he will be back to his old routine.

Samantha started back to dance today! It felt so good to take her and be out of the house, lol. She enjoyed it and seemed happy to be back.

Please keep all our little friends in your prayers, this winter seems really tough on our kids.

Playing Catch up...

This is a pic that shows our Christmas Elf, she was a lot of fun!

Ryan opening a gift Christmas morning

Samantha thrilled she finally gets Zhu-Zhu pets!

Stacy opening a gift

Look what Santa brought Connor! Tools!

Christmas party in Samantha's class-she got to wear the birthday hat since her birthday is over vacation...

Connor's class party...

Connor's teacher reading a story to the class

Playing "The Name Game" at Connor's school party

Wow, a present for me!

Stacy and cousin Steven at Samantha's birthday party

Samantha and sweet Kate!

Our newest pets! Connor loves his fishies...

Samantha about to perform in her Christmas dance "Toyland" it was beautiful!

The kids with "The Sandman" at Fantasy in Lights


Wow! What can I say?? It has been a wonderful and very busy month for all of us. I hope the pictures tell a little about our holiday fun we had. Connor and Samantha both had school parties and luckily they were timed perfectly so that I was able to go to both. First Samantha came over to Connor's class and then me and Connor went to her party. Exhausting, but very special! The teachers really outdid themselves this year with all the fun activities. Samantha's teacher was especially nice and even let Connor join in with her class the day they made Gingerbread Houses (it was on a Thursday when Connor is off, but I was a helper and I KNEW he would love to make one with Samantha)

Samantha also had her birthday party early in the month, then on the REAL birthday we went to her favorite restaurant to celebrate. Aunt Laurie came to-only fitting since it was all three of our birthdays that day, lol.
We had a ton of fun this Christmas with the little elf Connor got at the hospital! Every day the kids would wake up and start looking for the silly things the elf would do at night...they found her in the tree, hanging from the chandelier, in the dollhouse eating candy, etc...it was GREAT! I even got my twin sister one for her family for Christmas-and some of the money goes to CURE for childhood cancer research, so it is for a good cause.

Connor is sick right now with a very bad cold and cough...it is scary, this is one of the few times he has been sick in a couple years. We usually joke that he is the healthiest sick kid we know, lol...the IVIg is his blessing, it keeps him SO full of healthy antibodies that he usually avoids all the yuckies going around. We had a busy month and he was exposed to a whole lot more than usual, so it could be from that, or just from everyone else having this virus-I just want it to go away! Last week at the doctor he was diagnosed with croup and that is better, now it is just a non-stop cough, but without the croupy sound to it...add in vomiting and low grade fever and you get the picture. No return of OMS symptoms so that is good news! We are watching closely and praying he can get through this without a relapse.

He has been doing awesome behavior-wise! This is a huge breakthrough for him, he has actually been able to entertain himself for a few minutes at a time this past month. I don't know if it is all the new toys or his maturing, but it has been nice to see him playing like a typical kid. He loves his Handy Manny tool bench Santa brought and is "fixing" things for us constantly, lol. Looks like we might be doing a Handy Manny birthday party come April! It is funny because he watches almost no television-so it isn't the show that has him captivated, it is just the tools.

Still going to speech twice a week...I caught myself in a pity party yesterday that I am trying to pull my way out of. This is what happened...I picked Connor up from school and he looked awful (circles under eyes, coughing) and it is such a long day for him from 8:30am-3:00pm, and then we rush to speech therapy and he looks miserable. While there-he is struggling SO hard to make these words come out right, and nothing is coming out right at all...so frustrating for him and for me. I was driving home and just kept thinking "Why?" Why does everything have to be this rough on him? He is only three years old, yet he has a schedule that is pretty tough sometimes for even an adult to keep track of. That lasted about a day and now I am back to my usual, more optimistic self...I know I am lucky he is talking at all. I thank God for that! I just have to keep reminding myself that he is getting better every day and it is progress, even if it is slow.

Ryan and Stacy just started their second semester at high school. The year is flying by! Next month they turn 15 and can get their learners permits and begin driving practice. I can see my stress level going up then, lol! Teaching TWO to drive at the same time :-)

Please keep Connor and all his OMS friends in your prayers and especially all the children fighting cancers. Too many!!!

Love to all-
Debbie