Peek-a-boo

Here are some pictures from our hospital visit. Blake's Dr shaved his head last week at the Saint Baldrick's event. He has been really encouraging. Thanks to everyone for your calls and emails and your support. We really appreciate the prayers and the offers to have your bone marrow typed to see if it matches Blake's! Thank you ALL soo much!!!!!

Not again.....

We are in the midst of a big scare with Blake right now. His routine blood test at CARES showed some blast cells, which may indicate relapse. The Leukemia may be back in his bone marrow, so his Dr did a bone marrow biopsy and a spinal tap, no chemo today. Call or email us for more information.

If Blake does relapse he will have to undergo more intensive chemo and a bone marrow transplant. :( Our world is turning upside down again...

The Good Brother

Blake went to the doctor's office with us for his sister's six month check-up today. He enjoyed seeing his regular doctor (not his oncologist) and all of the nurses there. He played catch and kicked a mickey mouse beach ball around with our friend Lauren. He enjoyed seeing Grandma at her work and even got to throw coins in the water!

Blake helped his sister by holding her hand while she got her shots. He is such a thoughtful big brother! We love that our kids love each other!

Tomorrow is a big day for Blake. He goes to CARES for a spinal tap with chemo. Once he is done in CARES we will head upstairs to the clinic for more chemo and possibly some blood products.

To anyone who wants to help in any way, please donate blood and platelets to the American Red Cross! They have helped Blake a lot and you are never to poor to donate blood!!!!!!!

Alexia's 6 Month Check-up

Pretty Baby

Alexia with her wonderful Doctor

Getting ready for her shots

Blake holding his baby sister's hand

Alexia crying briefly after her shot

All Better

Our little lady went in for her 6 month Check-up today!!! We all got to go together as a family! Blake's counts were good enough that he was able to accompany us! Alexia weighs 19 lbs 6 1/2 oz and is 27 inches long! She is still above the 100th percentile for her age, but she is still wearing 3-6 month clothes!!!! I think she will be moving up to 6-9 month sizes here shortly though! Alexia didn't mind the visit until she had to get her shots. Blake held her hand to help her be strong.

Our doctor gave us a new meal plan for Alexia, which means she will be drinking less breast milk and eating more baby foods! Only 6 more months until Alexia can drink cow's milk, but the breast milk is keeping her strong and giving her a healthy start in life!!!!

Things to come

We have been continuing to take it easy as Blake's steroids wear off. He is regaining his energy and is really enjoying running around the house and playing with Daddy, Alexia and mommy! He has also been playing quite a bit of catch with Aunt April and Uncle Liam!

He is still rather puffy, in fact it seems to have gotten worse even after he stopped taking the steroid. He is a fascinating boy though and he spent the evening on Saturday telling his dad all about the episodes of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse he has watched as a reward for using his big boy potty. He has a great memory and it is nice to see that the Chemo hasn't had much if any effect on him mentally.

Blake will go in to Children's CARES unit on Wednesday for another spinal tap with chemo. Once he recovers from that we will be carted upstairs for more chemo and an explanation of what will happen next during this phase of treatment. Thanks to our friends who are about 4 weeks ahead of us we know that we will be visiting the clinic 4 days a week for chemo. During these weeks the will leave Blake's port accessed even when he goes home, which makes us VERY paraniod about infections, so prayers are really appreciated!

We are very excited that the Benefit being hosted for us at our Church by some of our family and friends has a date and time now! We are trying to help with preparations as much as possible and are SOOOOOO grateful to the many people who are a part of setting it up and the people who are coming! It is so amazing to see how many people care about Blake!!!!

We have also been blessed with new career opportunities in the family and are thankful for this as well. Nothing is set in stone yet, but this could be a HUGE blessing for us!

We thank God for you all often and could not do this without your prayers and support!

The Parracks

6 Months Old

Our big girl Alexia is 6 months old today! It is amazing how quickly she is growing up. She is quite a mover and loves to play with her big brother! She sits still playing for amazingly long amounts of time. She is such a patient girl and has such a great temperment! We are so lucky to have such a wonderful little girl in our lives!

It is hard to believe that 6 short months ago we didn't even know her yet! We cherish every moment with her and are so impressed with all that she has already accomplished!