Cade's Art Work

I love it when Cade brings his art work from school home to show me! Here are some recent additions to our "gallery"!

Museum Pictures

Here are some pictures from the museum (in addition to the Star Wars photos)!

Star Wars FANatic!

So, we went to the Indianapolis Children's Museum this Saturday (it was PACKED)! But, we wanted to take Cade to the Star Wars Exhibit. It was MUCH smaller than we had anticipated,but Cade enjoyed seeing some of the movie memorabilia and posing with some of the pictures of his favorite characters. Here are a few. . .

A Caged Animal!

This morning, I was getting ready, and found Quinn in Murphy's crate! How appropriate! The little animal has finally been caught and caged! He was so proud of himself for getting in there like "Goggie"!

Our Little Booger!

18 Months Old!! It breaks my heart that he's growing up so fast, but at the same time, I love this stage! Our friend Lexi took these amazing pictures of Quinn for us. She's incredible and you can see more of her work on her blog. You can also see the full album here.

Prayers Please!

Many of you know that Michael's cousin, Adam, and his family are going through an "adventure" as they call it. Adam's 8 year old son, Elijah was diagnosed in 2007 with ALD. ALD is a rare genetic disorder where the body cannot break down Very Long Chain Fatty Acids. Adam, his wife Ronda and their 2 boys, Elijah and Cyrus (5 years old) are currently in Minneapolis at the U of M Medical Center where Elijah is undergoing treatment. Here is an excerpt from their website:

"For the last year we have been part of a trial study through John’s Hopkins Medical Center where Elijah has been on a very low fat diet (18 grams per day) and has had to drink Lorenzo’s Oil every day. In an MRI in November 2008, it was determined that a small lesion has begun to grow in his brain. This means a new course of action for our family. On February 2 we will begin a bone marrow transplant in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. Elijah will have a week of pre-operational testing, then twelve days of chemotherapy, and then have the transplant. Cyrus will be his bone marrow donor. We will be in Minneapolis for a total of 4-6 months."

We did hear from Michael's cousin, Shawn, (Adam's sister) today. She said that Cyrus is almost fully recovered except for some tenderness in his hips where the extraction was performed. Elijah is doing well, but he is experiencing some side effects of the chemo. These next 2 weeks are critical. This is when Elijah's cells begin fighting Cyrus' donated cells. There needs to be an 80 - 100% acceptance of the cells.

Please pray with us that Elijah's body accepts his brother's donated cells. Also pray for high spirits for Adam, Ronda, Elijah, Cyrus and the rest of the family. As I mentioned before, they call this an adventure and they put complete faith in God.

A New Perspective

So last night, I went to bed around 11:00. Michael and I have an arrangement, I get up with our early riser (Quinn) Monday through Friday, and he takes Saturday and Sunday. So, I decided to take FULL advantage of my last good night's sleep, and get to bed early. Around 11:15, Cade comes in to our room and informs me that his stomach hurts. He crawls into bed with me, and I'm thinking how cozy he is. We cuddle a little. I ask him if it feels like he's going to throw up. . . "Nope." So, I decide NOT to go get the vomit bowl. At about midnight he wakes up again saying "I think we are going to have to have a funeral for me. My stomach really hurts." I tell him we aren't going to have to have a funeral, and why doesn't he try to go into our bathroom and see if he can go. No sooner than he gets up, I hear it. The dreaded sound of all mothers. That half choke-half gag-something is coming up whether we like it or not-sound. And there all over my bedroom floor it goes. "Run" I tell him. . . "get to the toilet". So, there he stands in my bathroom at the toilet, but not putting up the lid, just standing there looking at it and getting his dinner all over my bathroom floor. I start the clean up process. . . get the shower running, and he's still vomiting all over, but now, he's doing it on me because I'm talking to him, and he keeps following me all over the bathroom leaving another disgusting trail for me to clean up. Finally, I throw him in the shower and by then Michael has come to help, but really, I just want him to keep our incredibly curious new dog out of the mess. We split the duties, and I'm on my hands and knees scrubbing the bathroom floor and I hear this soft sound coming out of the shower. At first I think it's crying. . . then I realize. The little kid that just vomited ALL (and yes folks, I do mean ALL - we're talking carpet, tile, walls, doors, baseboards, etc.) over my bedroom and bathroom is SINGING. I questioned him "Cade . . . are you . . . singing?" His reply . . ."Yep. You know the great thing about throwing up, Mommy? It's that you feel so much better afterwards!!" And that's when the tears came. Not from him, but me. I realized that, as much as I despise cleaning up vomit, some day. . . in about 12 years, I'll get a call from him at Notre Dame (hey, I can dream right. . . while we're at it, let's say he's there on a full ride scholarship) and he'll say he's sick with the flu going around the dorm, and I won't be there to help him. I need to cherish every moment. Ok, I won't say that I cherished the clean up, but it did put things in perspective. So, that's the story of how a little vomit, a little singing, and a few tears shed some new light on childhood sickness in our home.
By the way. . . he's doing just fine now. "Feels GREAT!" He says. I still have him quarantined!! - Just in case!!