Headed to D.C.

Ashly and I are headed for Washington D.C. tomorrow. We leave at 1pm tomorrow and will come back on Tuesday at 6pm. The National Awards lucheon and ceremony on Monday, May 3rd, will be telecast live on the internet at 1245pm eastern time (so that's 1145pm in Minnesota and North Dakota!!!). Family and friends can watch this by visiting the Spirit of Community homepage at http://spirit.prudential/. com on that day.

Pictures and stories to follow!!!

Milk 'n Boots

Where do you put your cup of milk when you are done with it? In daddy's motorcycle boot, of course!!!

Poor little guy, standing at the gate!

Go Steve!!!

My brother, Steve, had an awesome "you beat cancer" checkup at the U on Monday. I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, STEVE AND LIBBY! I was so moved by your words that I wanted to share them with everyone.

Here are Steve's words from www.gosteve.org.

Every end has a beginning, and just after 11 AM on the 26th of April, 2010, Lib and I sat in a room that we’ve sat in before. But this time it was different-

Time after time you are told that you will get through it; one day at a time; it’s a marathon not a sprint. All good intentions aside- all hope aside- these are not words of inspiration when I would wake up puking, puking, puking and Lib would jolt awake from sleep and replace my puke buckets dutifully after each round of heaves. She would trudge to the tub, wash them out (they are never again clean after that putrid acid first hits the plastic) and bring them back for round two (or round 30, or round 40) before falling into the restless sleep that was unhealthy and unrelenting.

Time after time I tell people that they will get through it; one day at a time; it’s a marathon not a sprint. I have good intentions. I hope these words offer inspiration or at the very least hope. Yet this sick mutation of cells rages on ravaging those innocent kids and families around the world. Is it a monster? Is it a curse? Is it a sign? Is it a test? It is ALL of these things, but why?

I stopped asking why during the first moment of clarity I had through all the meds being forced through my skin and into my veins back in 2005. You can’t win a psychological battle of blame; transferring the immense pain, torture, illness, grief and guilt to someone (or something) else won’t get me back to my family as the husband, son, brother, uncle, cousin, nephew and friend that faced death. We all faced death. I stared at my leg that was up in a sling with a screw twisted through my flesh and bone for months on end. I knew I would NEVER take another step on that leg. It gave me hope that maybe, possibly I would save it… but the leg never mattered. It was all for my life. The leg never really mattered, no matter how much we projected our worry over that insignificant bit of my body. We fought day in and day out for the chance to experience graduations, weddings, births, new pets, grill-outs, vacations and all the great moments we have with our loved ones.

Throughout the struggle we lived by the ‘definitely, maybe’ prognosis. “Steve, you definitely maybe will save your leg. You definitely maybe will get chemo on Monday. You definitely maybe will get discharged by 2pm. You definitely maybe will walk at your wedding. You definitely maybe will get married. You definitely maybe will see your parent’s 40th wedding anniversary. You definitely maybe will become a father. You definitely maybe will actually be able to live the life that you want to give to Lib and the rest of your family. Well, I have DEFINITELY maybe won this round. We lost blood, a limb, innocence, tears, weight, time, youth, opportunities, sleep and even hope.

I hurt and yearn for the families of all the cancer-angels that fought and fought only to be unjustly taken from the Earth. What’s left of me will always be fighting alongside and willing those warriors in battle to deal the final blow to their own disease. Some will and some won’t.
Just after 11 AM, Dr. Brenda Weigel walked into the room and said the scans look amazing. Nothing there. I am now cancer free and we are looking towards heading off any of the side effects that will plague me for the rest of my life. They are moving me to long term care. My physical heart has been weakened and from this day forward will be the focus of my health…but my REAL heart has never been stronger or more full of life. Osteo has been stricken from the top of my list. Or as I like to think, it was beheaded with a rusty blade and buried in a shallow grave.

Become. Stronger. Juggernaut.

We, the Juggernaut, are ready for the next challenge.

ONWARD.

SDS, ERS
( & the Symons Six+ )

Another ear infection

Well, after 5 nights of Cman not sleeping, and last night was real bad. He wouldn't even let me rock him. He would wiggle out of my arms onto the ground and kick and scream when he was so tired he couldn't even open his eyes. It was so hard to watch him do that because it was so obvious he was hurting and I couldn't help him. I took him to the doctor today and his right ear is infected and his throat a little red. Amoxicillin will save the day! I hope he feels better soon!

Sleep

He's actually not sleeping, just merely pausing for a second in the middle of playing. Christopher is not the type to fall asleep on the floor. He will fight sleep till the end! Let's see I put him down at 930 last night and he didn't go to sleep until after 1100pm...that's with both Chadd and I trying everything...how many more years of this???

But then again...he's so darn cute, it's hard to stay mad at him for very long :)

Dancing

Ashly and Christopher dancing on the deck! We blocked the stairs on the deck and Christopher loves going in and out of the house on the deck. We can do that on nice days and before the bugs get bad!

Crib

Ok...now I've had a couple comments about having no crib and no highchair and I have to clear that up! (don't always believe everything you read on the internet. ha ha!!!) I was just saying that "in the future" someday when Christopher moves over to the toddler room permanently (sometime after he is 16 months old) then he will not have a crib or high chair at daycare, but he will still have them at home. And right now he still uses them at daycare because he is still in the infant room most the time with the babies! Sorry for the confusion!!!



On a side note...he's taking a nap right now as I type this...WITH THE GREEN BALL!!!



P.S. And Ashly is at her first track meet today. I forgot the camera. I was so mad at myself. Sorry, I will have to get pictures at the next one. Christopher and I went right after I got off work. We saw Ashly do the hurdles and the triple jump (like the long jump with a couple extra hops in there). Cman was tired and wanted to run on the track, the one spot he couldn't! So he started throwing a few tantrums and he was tired so we headed back home and he fell asleep in the car within 5 minutes. I was hoping we could stay longer and see Ashly run, maybe next time. The track meets are 4 plus hours so there is no way we can see it all.

The Green Ball

A couple days ago, Christopher brought the green ball up from the basement (it's the bender ball!) and now he won't let it go. It's all of a sudden his favorite. Now he's eaten with it and slept with it. I think stuffed animals are easier to deal with not letting go than a big green ball! It's pretty funny!

Toddler

"AHHH...MOM, THE DIET COKE IS GONE!"

Here's Cman dancing around, taking a sip of water every now and then. I'm so excited for the little guy, he's doing so well at daycare. He's currently in the infant room and that goes until he is 16 months, then he'll go to the toddler room . One of the ladies, Lori, that works in the toddler room has been grabbing Christopher when they have activities, like playing outside, circle time, things like that, and letting Christopher get in on it. She says he is doing really well with the older kids and she can't wait for him to come on over to her room. That's pretty exciting, a huge step in his world. Not a baby anymore...no more crib, no more high chair, nuk only at nap time!

The Big Easy

The Big Easy...that's the name of the oil-less infared turkey fryer that Chadd used today on this beautiful Sunday afternoon while I was at work.


Ashly and Christopher enjoying a what???? A pickle!!!!

There's the Big Easy.

The proud cook!!!

Looking good!

The finished product.

Look at that bird!!! Chadd took the wings off (we didn't want it to fly away!)

Wagon

This is the wagon I bought Christopher for his birthday. It's fun to push and pull, but it's even more fun to sit in!

Haircut?

So here's the question...is it time for a haircut yet? He has never had his hair cut and I just don't know if I'm ready yet. People have told me it's time. And my deal is I only like short hair cuts on boys and I plan on keeping his short and clean cut (until I no longer have a say in it), so why is it that I don't want to get his hair cut??? I still have some time, right??? Oh well, it's only hair.
I guess it's the milestone that I'm not ready for. He's getting so big so fast!

Tools

Here's some pictures of Ashly playing with Christopher and some of his tools!

Food is messy!

I was so excited all year to be done with bottles. I told myself it'll be so nice when I don't have to deal with washing a million bottles a day. What was I thinking??? Food is so much more work! FOOD IS MESSY!!! Messy food on the face, in the hair, on the walls, on the floor. Just another day...

Ashly and Christohper are buddies. Ashly rocked Christopher to sleep on Friday and Saturday night. On Saturday night, she was in his room for a long time so I thought I would check on them and they were both fast asleep in the rocking chair!

Another fun new thing. The last couple nights I get up when Christopher is crying in the middle of the night and he manages to get his foot stuck in the railing of the crib in his sleep...ABOVE THE BUMPERS!!! The bumpers serve a very good purpose, but they don't go up all the way to the top of the crib, and no one would have thought they should. Christopher is high maintenance! It's fine, who really likes to sleep through the whole night without getting up anyways. He's just keeping me in my place!!!