April 5, 2013

Wow...I am ashamed that I have let a year go by without a single post! I dont even know where to begin. Life has somehow found a normalcy, that we are SO thankful for! Blake is about to finish Kindergarten and will be going to first grade next year. He has really come so far this year. His tumor has remained stable-we count our blessings every day! He has had 3 rounds of Botox since I last posted, and in February he had surgery on his right leg (tendon release) that is going to help him walk better & be able to put his heel down all the way. We are already seeing great results! He is growing like a weed, and is obsessed with superheroes-Batman specifically. He has quite the sense of humor and will talk your ear off if given the chance. He is such an amazing kid and I am so grateful that I am his mom.

Life has been good this past year. I am working again-almost full time. I am the office manager at a graphics company-I absolutely love my job! The hours are perfect, I am able to get Blake on the bus in the morning and I am home to get him off the bus in the afternoon. I couldn't ask for more perfect hours...or coworkers! Phil is still working at Pepsi. He has been there 9 years now. Where has the time gone?

We are getting ready to pack up and head to Texas for Blake's annual follow up at MD Anderson. We are really looking forward to spending a week down there-visiting family, going to the beach, adventures are endless! Blake has been asking us for months if it was time to go to Texas yet, he is so excited! Its our built in family vacation...even though we have doctors appointments almost everyday-its still a vacation to us!

I will try my best to get on here and post updates, again I appologize for not getting on here sooner! Life has picked up speed, its amazing to me how far we have come in the past couple years. Ya just never know what life will throw at you. We are BLESSED!!

At the Dixie Stampede in Branson, MO

Batman Live

Batman waters our grass for us

First Day of Kindergarten

November MRI @ Childrens Mercy Hospital

Kindergarten School Photo

April 15, 2012

driving home

Greetings! We made it home from Houston last night. Thankfully we had a safe trip, thanks to all of you who prayed for our safe drive! (There was a severe thunderstorm warning with possibilities of tornado's) I tried posting an update while we were in Houston, but time just flew by. We had such a great trip, but first lets go over Blake's MRI results. 

His MRI shows his tumor stable still, however we are watching that lesion a little closer because there was a slight change. Our doctors in Texas want us to come back in 3 months to do another scan on their machine so we can compare 'apples to apples'. We learned that different MRI machines have different strength magnets. Kinda like a 5 mega pixel camera compared to a 14 mega pixel camera. Its the same picture-but the 14 mega pixel is going to be a lot less grainy and more clear. The same thing with MRI's. I thought they always did the same scan-guess not. Lol So now I will make sure every scan is with the stronger magnet. It seems like common sense to me! 

So July we will return to Houston for another MRI. We also have his opthamology, audiology, neuro-psychology and check up from Dr. Mahajan at the Proton Center. We were also told to see an endocrinologist. Blake's thyroid level was a little elevated. Nothing to worry about yet-just wanting us to keep an eye on it. 

Blake and his Easter basket.

While we were in Texas we celebrated Easter with my Houston family. Blake woke up to a house full of eggs. The Easter Bunny found us all the way down in Texas-and left a Easter basket for Blake! He was very excited and had a lot of fun hunting all the eggs. He even found a basket for Nevaeh! (She wasn't able to come with us-we are STILL waiting for the court to grant us as Kinship providers) After hunting eggs-we all got dressed and when to a little park to take some pictures. Then we went to Papa's Seafood restaurant to meet all my family for dinner. Phil LOVES seafood so he was one happy guy! I enjoyed my chicken salad-it was delicious! lol 

Sleeping after his MRI

On Wed we had Blake's MRI.  It went smoothly, except for the whole poke for his IV. He threw a huge fit before he was even poked. He knows the topical numbing spray means he is about to be poked so he freaked out. I ended up holding him, and after a little fighting-his IV was in. On Thurs we met with Dr. Pearlman and Dr. Vats. After going over the results we drove to the Houston Zoo-for the first time! When we arrived the parking lot was completely full-NO place to park. So we decided to go eat and try again. That was a good idea because Blake took a nap for about an hour-we were driving around trying to find a good place to eat. We ended up agreeing on Quiznos. We returned to the Zoo and we found a great parking spot. The Zoo was great! The goats in the petting zoo were Blake's favorite, and the elephants! They had 2 baby elephants that were wrestling-omg it was so cute! On Friday we went to Galveston with my Aunt. Blake walked on the beach and collected a few small shells. He also found a pink Easter egg-we threw the candy inside away. lol Then my aunt took us to Moody Gardens. We went to the rain-forest pyramid. It was SO cool. The birds and monkeys are free to roam the garden. It was a lot of fun. Blake had a blast! 

Here is a little slide show I put together-Enjoy!!

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February 29, 2012

Its crazy to think that its only been a month and I have SO much to tell you! Lets start with today...

We went to see Blake's neurologist this morning, Dr. Le Pichon, whom we love!! We see him every 6 months and he goes over his most recent MRI's and answers any questions we might have. We looked over the MRI's from his past Nov, July and April scans. We have been watching a spot on Blake's brain (a lesion) and have been patiently waiting to figure out what it is, praying it wasn't another tumor. Well, after reviewing the scans and comparing them, Dr. Le Pichon is pretty certain that the lesion is just scar tissue!! HOORAY!! He said all of our prayers have paid off and that this is the best news we could have prayed for! Needless to say we left his office very very happy!! I have to thank all of you who have prayed and sent positive thoughts our way! We greatly appreciate all your support!!

Ok, ready for some more exciting news?!!

Many of you may follow me on facebook, so this might not be 'new' news for you, everyone else get ready! Lol.

In January, a little girl named Nevaeh was added to my class. I learned that she was a foster child, and soon learned the lady caring for her was not doing such a great job. I instantly fell in love with this little girl with big brown eyes. She melted my heart and I just wanted to take her home. Meeting her inspired me to look into becoming a foster parent, so I came home one day and mentioned 'fostering' to Phil. We had talked about adoption a long time ago, and having Nevaeh in my class really got me thinking. Phil thought it was a good idea, but wanted more information. So we invited a friend of mine over, who has been fostering for a couple years now, to answer some questions and give us some more info. I also called my Aunt who has also been a foster parent for some time, to get her advice and more info. Phil and I decided that we could really help a child out, give them love and support and more importantly a family! Call it Gods will, that very next week my friend called and said Nevaeh was going up for placement. Her current foster mom was not able to take care of her or give her what she needed. Crazy right?! So we made a few phone calls, and my friend called Nevaeh's case worker to let her know I was interested. The case worker was thrilled that we wanted her. We are considered 'kinship' providers since I know her from school. She called and set up a time to do our home study and had us fill out some paper work. It has now been a week and we are patiently waiting to find out when she will be coming to live with us. Its been hard to wait, but we have had time to change my office into a bedroom, and are collecting lots of hand-me-downs since Nevaeh has very little. She only wore 4 different outfits to school, most were too big for her, and her shoes were too small for her feet. It was so sad seeing her come to school like that, her hair was never brushed or fixed. Right now Nevaeh has been placed with my friend, we are waiting patiently for the courts to approve a kinship license for us. We were able to spend some time with her over the weekend. Phil and Blake both really like her. My friend is taking such good care of her, she told me that if she didn't like us as much as she does, she would tell the case worker to stop and just let her keep her. lol I know that she will be loved and cared for as long as we have any say! Her name is heaven backwards...tell me that God didn't put her in my class for a reason. lol I truly believe everything happens for a reason. I have always wanted a little girl. Ya never know what Gods plan is until its right in front of you. I know this is going to be a journey, and I'm sure it wont always be easy. I do know that no matter what happens we can get through it. After the past 3 years with Blake, I know that we can get through anything as long as we stick together and pray, pray, pray. We are rich in love and support. And that's all you really need in this world, ya know! Blake is excited, although I'm not sure he totally understands yet. He enjoyed playing with her over the weekend. I think this is going to be a really good thing for everyone involved. Prayers are of course appreciated!! I know we will need them! I will keep you all posted on how it all goes. I am hoping to find something out soon!!