Easy Like a Sunday Morning

We really miss Travis on Sundays, but he has to work. :(

The rest of us enjoyed family time at Grandma Donna's house and visiting Grandpa Bill in the hospice section of the nursing home. The kids, Desiree, Aunt April, Uncle Liam, Ma-ma and Pa-pa all went to Church on Sunday evening after our visit with the family.

We really enjoy our times with the family and can't express how grateful we are for the love and support they all give us without expecting anything in return. It is so refreshing to know that the love they have for us in unconditional! The message at Church was great! And the soloist who closed the service was phenominal! She sang "Honesty" by Billy Joel, which tied in directly with the sermon on honesty. The worship band is so great and the entire experience is always so uplifting. We are very thankful for the Sunday evening service, it is such a small group of people that we are able to bring Blake and Alexia along with us and not worry about exposing them to anything.

Blake's Hard Day

Blake had a really hard day today. He went in for counts and had to get the "PEG" shots, one in each leg. He was a real trooper about the finger poke and barely put up a fuss about the "PEG" shots. He enjoyed seeing some of the kids he knows and mommy enjoyed talking to their parents.

This phase of treatment has been really hard on Blake already, he is barely able to stay awake and is having troubles with bad dreams. He is still a sweet heart and a joy to be around, but you can tell he is having a very hard time with treatment. He asked mommy today if daddy would please shave his head, so this weekend Travis will cut off his beautiful straight white blonde hair. :( We will miss the hair, but are happy that it will not wind up falling out bit by bit. We try to let Blake have as much say as possible in the little things like when to cut his hair. We are told that helps him fell more in control even when there are things he cannot make decisions on.

Blake was really looking forward to seeing all of his cousins again in Joplin this weekend, he was also looking forward to watching fireworks and taking walks with Papa Bare. Unfortunately his counts are too low and the Dr advised us not to risk it. We love Blake and will do what is best for him! Hopefully we will make it down there soon though.

Blake will have to go back to the clinic on Wednesday two more chemo treatments. We are not looking forward to these. Hopefully we will be able to do something for him that will make his Fourth of July fun!

Milestones

Our big girl Alexia is rolling right along developmentally, she says "ma-ma", "ga-ga" and "da", she is wonderful at sitting all by herself (started sitting before 4 months, but now she does it without any tipping), she was crawling backwards and as of Sunday she started crawling forward. She doesn't crawl a whole lot lately, but she is doing a good job of getting where she wants to go. She is growing up way too fast, but we are really enjoying watching her figure out fun new things to do.

Her current favorite activity is "flying" around the room chasing her big brother. They both laugh and giggle as they are running around the room. It is so amazing to witness the connection these kids have with each other. Blake is very protective of his little sister and does not like people he does not know to hold or talk to his sister. Such a good older brother!

Alexia's First Fireworks

Alexia really seemed to enjoy her first fireworks display. Unfortunately every time we tried to take her picture the flash weirded her out, so there are not good pictures of the expression on her face as she watched. Hopefully when we are in Joplin for the fourth of July we will actually get some good ones of her face!

Alexia's First Garage Sale and First Play Date

Daddy with Alexia at the Garage sale Day 1

Daddy with Alexia at our garage sale day 2

Alexia with Nicole, Kenneth and Brittany!

Alexia loves Nicole!
Alexia seemed to enjoy herself during our garage sale and really enjoyed spending time with baby Kenneth. They played nicely and were too cute! She charms everyone she meets and reminds us a lot of Blake at that age with her temperment. She is such a sweet, good natured baby! We just love that girl! This was her first play date during which she actually played with the other baby. During her play dates before she just kind of played on her own or they lay on a blanket and didn't do much.

Fireworks

Blake got to see fireworks tonight! We went to a nice little park that overlooks our Church and watched the fireworks from there since there was such a big crowd at the Church and Blake cannot be around that many people right now. Blake had fun catching fireflies with Uncle Liam and playing with a toy snake with Aunt April. He snuggled Grandma while watching the fireworks and seemed to enjoy himself for the most part.

We got to see a BIG TRUCK when we pulled into the parking lot at the park and Blake got to stand by it. He loves trucks!

Days 2 and 3

Blake seems to be doing well with his treatment. The chemo gave him a really flushed look, so his cheeks are pretty rosey right now. He has been extremely sleepy aside from the first hour or two after he takes his steroids. He enjoyed helping Mommy and Daddy with the garage sale. He even made some money. He also enjoyed hiding in the many things we and our friends were selling. He played with our friends' kids, but tired pretty quickly both days so we had to let our friend Mike man the sale while we took him to rest up at home. He has been a champ about taking his medicine lately and hasn't wanted any unusual foods. He is still obsessed with Cheez-its, cheese sticks and eggs. Nothing new as of yet, but he did ask for apple pie, it was pretty odd since he has only had apple pie once or twice in his life.