6462 Summit Cove-Clearing More Trees

Here are the original pictures from when we purchased the lot

Last fall we didn't quite get all of the box elder trees cut down before the snow fell. Now with most of the snow melting we were excited to get back up there and get the rest of the trees cut down. Kerry was so wonderful and came to help.

Liam was a mess and didn't want to cooperate in the least. He hated how loud the chainsaw was and just wanted to be held. Gracie and Em pretended to help but Im not really sure how much they actually did. Hallie however was a great help. 

I was grateful when Liam's nap time came and I took him and the 2 middle girls home while Matt, Kerry, and Hallie finished up.

Matt and I left the lot that day frustrated more than anything. As we had finished up the box elder trees we got into the hawthorns and we knew pretty quickly that it was more than what we were capable of doing. The trees are more like bushes and are very difficult to separate unless you cut the whole bush at once. Then on top of that the branches are covered in thorns...that poke thru your gloves. So we are back to the drawing board on how we can get the tree out of there without it costing a fortune. I do think we should be proud of the trees we have cut down and it has given us something to do. Now to rent a chipper. 

A Crazy Idea

Shortly after we found out that Liam was NED I started feeling like we should look into a puppy. At first I said nothing to Matt because I figured he'd think I was crazy...which I probably am. But after a week of feeling like that I mentioned something in passing to Matt. Before I talked to Matt I had started looking and trying to figure out if we got a dog which kind we would want. I didn't want anything that would be big because we would need an indoor dog knowing how harsh the winters. Something that wouldn't shed because I have had sensitivities in the past, and something that would be good with kids. A golden doodle met all of those qualifications but I was worried about the sie until I found a micro golden doodle. I started looking on ksl and found a handful of them but they weren't cheap and I was worried Matt would say no. But after a long discussion and me pointing out all of the positives we agreed to think about it and discuss it later. A couple days later Matt brought it up and we talked finances and what it would take. We both felt like quarantine might be the bets time to get a dog. We had no where to go and nothing to do, Matt is working from home, and the kids are all home from school. We check ksl again and I reached out to a couple breeders and asked questions. We found this little guy below and asked if we could come meet him.

The next day we went to meet all 9 of the puppies. With the COVID-19 stuff we had to sanitize once we arrived and the kids were immediately in love with them. The only problem was each of the girls were in love with a different puppy and Matt and I liked the original one we came to see. The girls cried when we left and we told them we couldn't by them all a puppy.

That night we put down a deposit and couldn't wait for the next 2 weeks to pass until this little guy was ready to come home with us. Now to think of a name, buy supplies, and line up a vet. Ready or not here we go

Getting Into A "Quarantine Routine"-COVID 19

Oh where to begin with COVID-19 there is so much to cover and explain. I hope this news article is helpful. 

March 13th was the last day the girls went to school...Homeschooling it is

March 18th The 5.7 Earthquake

March 16th  Matt started working for home

When all of this started we knew we were going to be spending a bunch of time at home and quite honestly probably board and going crazy! So Amazon and Walmart delivery became our connection to the sane world. We ordered Hallie a bigger mountain bike. It was her first bike with gears and hand breaks. We also ordered all the girls scooters for walks and just to get out. 

So many communities have come together to help everyone out. On a facebook group a mom put together zoom calls where the kids could do show and tell and talk about everything that's going. The girls really enjoyed that.

We also ordered some stem toys the girls have loved them. We are just rotating our activities to try to keep everyone's brains moving

It was nice for a minute to have a hot tub and pool across the street and then some idiot decided to close it to help social distancing. Little do they know there is no issue with social distancing here! Luckily we got to enjoy them a couple times until they shut them down. I hope they will reopen the pools, parks, playgrounds, and other outdoor play spaces sooner than later. They have also closed our basketball and tennis courts. I have seen 1 family on there since we moved in 6 months ago...this is getting a little ridiculous

This was Liam's first time to the pool. In the past several months he has had a central line and wasn't allowed in bodies of water like this. He seemed to really enjoy it.

We are doing our best to keep positive but we have already been "quarantined" for 4 months when all of this started so it has been rough. I haven't been the most patient home school teacher for sure. Some days are better than others for sure. Luckily we have great teachers from the school that are working hard to send home stuff to keep our kids on track. They are getting things more streamlined the more time passes. The girls log in the computer each day with a list of assignments usually 2-3 hours. They still do their reading and so far they have been really compliant without to much complaining. Emy of coarse wants to be involved and thanks to Ms Syrina she has some things to do a couple times a week. She dropped by a cute binder with a prize after they complete the assignments for the day. Emy has loved that. Before the school came out with a plan I bought the girls each a grade appropriate workbook for them to do. They do regularly drive me crazy about being on the computer so we have to be pretty strict with that. It's hard to describe what a challenge it has been for me to run a household, raise kids, and run home school. It has pushed me more than I have ever been pushed and on top of that we are on top of each other in this tiny condo. After Liam went to watch and wait I decided it was time to get off my antidepressants. I just felt yucky on them almost over medicated. I weaned down over  several weeks and just as they canceled school I was off of them so that probably hasn't helped but Matt is helping me monitor how Im doing. One thing I know is it may not be pretty but we will get through this.

Liam's Fight with Cancer-First Visits & Remission

I have nothing but good news to report. Tuesday we arrived at Primary Childrens about lunch time. I was relieved to see a security guard set up in the middle of the entrance asking people why they were there and asking them to sanitize their hands before entering the facility. I’ll admit I am somewhat concerned about coronavirus. I have been surprised by the lack of anxiety I had around having these scans but the minute I entered the hospital I was definitely feeling it. We headed up to the clinic and got checked in. The clinic was super busy but they were able to get us a room where the IV team drew labs and placed an IV that would be used later that day to administer the contrast needed for the scan the following day. Liam is so good and really when in public becomes a total observer taking everything in and I’m not sure if that is his personality or just the fact that we have been isolated for months. We placed cotton balls in his diaper so we could collect a urine sample as well. Then we headed down to nuclear medicine to get his contrast placed. Doug greeted us shortly after check in and took us into a CT scan room that wasn’t being used to give Liam the contrast. Before giving him the contrast he had to drink some potassium iodine that would protect his thyroid from the radioactive contrast. I didn’t even know this was a thing….still learning new stuff every time we go to the hospital. Liam did great but pulled some pretty terrible faces while taking it. The contrast administration was short and simple and took less than 5 minutes. Then Doug took out his IV and we were headed home until the next morning. All in all we were only at the hospital for 90 minutes.

Once we headed for home we picked Emery up at my sister’s house. I have seen my sister very little since Liam’s diagnosis and it’s been hard. She is one of my best friends. Quarantine can be very isolating and hard. I wanted to stay and visit but noticed I felt very anxious after leaving the hospital. As I was driving I was thinking through why I felt that way and realized that we haven’t taken Liam to another person’s home in months. It has nothing to do with how clean the person is or anything like that. If I occasionally take him to the store he wears a mask and I wipe the entire cart down with clorox wipes when we finish I wipe down his hands and sanitize them...its for the most part a controlled environment and even though Liam is doing well my protectiveness hasn’t changed. I was relieved when my sister said they were playing in the backyard. It was so enjoyable to watch Liam play on the grass, on the slide, and just be a kid. I loved visiting with my sister and having some in person adult interaction. After we returned home I changed his clothes and wiped him down from being at the hospital. And went throughout our day until we had to go back the next morning.

Wednesday we had to be at the hospital at 9:30am. Kerry came after I got the two older ones off to school and to be with Emery while I was at the hospital. I checked in at the procedural center and to my surprise they were ready early for him. For all of his scans he has to be sedated at this age so he can’t have anything to eat after going to bed the night before so getting in earlier is always a good thing. They placed a new IV, did vitals, and had the nurse practitioner (who does the sedation) come talk to me. Shortly after we arrived Joy was able to join us.

Tuesday night I felt like I should ask her to come with me to the hospital. Matt was out of town so I was planning on going alone. I was grateful she was able to make arrangements to be with Liam and I. The hardest part of all of these visits is when I have to leave him. Once he starts to fall asleep I have to lay him in the scan table and trust that the team will take good care of him. I really like the procedural center and the way they handle things. They all seem to know him and I have at this point met most of them so they are familiar. They said the test would take 40-60 minutes so Joy and I went to grab some lunch at the cafeteria. I called to update Matt and waited. After we finished lunch we headed back to the waiting area and before we had even sat for 5 minutes they called us back...he was done. She said he had done great and was just waking up. When we got back to him he was crying but once I took him he settled right down and went back to sleep. I haven’t seen him this sleepy after a scan ever but it also was naptime so they said that had an effect as well. We let him sleep for almost an hour before he was awake enough to take a bottle before falling asleep again. It was coming up on our appointment time so we used a cool washcloth to try to get him a little more awake then headed upstairs to meet with Dr. Fluchel.

When we got upstairs to the clinic we visited with a couple of the nurses and gave Liam another bottle. Then as Joy and I sat visiting Liam went back to sleep. When Dr. Fluchel came in, he did a fantastic job going over everything. The MIBG had come back with virtually no glowing(no active cancer) it appeared to be slightly smaller than when we had scans in New York just a couple weeks prior. His lab work showed everything coming back into normal range. And his urine showed no signs of the tumor markers that were previously there! Dr. Fluchel explained several things that, had they been explained initially we may have never felt the need to go to New York. Several things that had been said along this journey now made way more sense. I was so appreciative that someone had finally taken the time to care about our son. We cover what life off active treatment looks like and what we could expect for follow up. We will do follow up every 6 weeks. Scans will be every 12 weeks and a urine test every 6 weeks so we would only have to go to the hospital every 12 weeks. We no longer have to call for fevers and they encouraged us to see our regular pediatrician for no cancer related issues. I felt very reassured as the conversation continued...this Dr was just what we had been looking for. Liam slept the entire visit but woke up just as we finished so he could be assessed and then we headed home with nothing but good news. As I drove home I tried to process everything that had happened not just in the last couple days but over this entire journey. I felt gratitude, so much gratitude but at the same time it all felt surreal and I cautious to not feel too excited like it may be taken away at any moment. I also felt guilty that so many struggle with this much longer than us and how did we get so lucky/blessed. But even with all the emotions Im grateful for the love and support for all of our family and friends. Because of you, all of your prayers, we have felt so much peace through this entire process. We hope the worst of this is over and we can slowly start to figure ]out what our new “normal” looks like.

Soaking in Some Sun

Oh how I have missed the sun and the warmth of sitting in it. It didn't take long after Emy and I got everything set up to realize we were over dressed and hot in our long sleeve and pants. We quickly found our sunglasses and a smoothie to balance out the heat. 

Liam seemed equally as happy to be outside and doing normal little boy things

 Even though the sunshine is warm we still have plenty of snow. The girls frequently get dressed up to go out and play. I'm already missing our yard. I don't like that its so open and has no fence so its nice I can at least see them

Liam is currently loving this vacuum. It's so cute to see him walk around vacuuming with it barking and panting.

 He received this chair from one of the foundations and seems to really like it. I love that he uses it like this

I love the normalcy of this picture. This is how you will find us most days of the week. In the same room all the kids reading their own books

 For some reason he has taken a liking the stethoscopes. Most cancer survivor moms say their kids hate anything associated with their hospitalizations or treatments but he once again seems un-phased by all of it. Maybe one day he'll want to be a doctor or in the medical field somehow.

And I couldn't leave out this picture. I love when he is totally asleep..both arms straight up. Something I want to remember.

Liam 15 Month Update

This little guy is growing and changing like crazy. He still isn't much of a talker but he seems to really understand what you are saying. He is a really good listener most of the time. He has started climbing, mostly on the table, and he thinks its funny. I do not. He continues to be a really great eater. He still seems to have problems with intermittent constipation that totally freaks me out but I feel in my heart that everything is ok in the tumor department and I rely on that feeling frequently.

He still has a bottle and I don't really have plans to take it away. I love to cuddle him and give him a bottle before nap and bedtime. I love the quiet when I can just focus on him for a few minutes. I always hug him and give him a kiss on his forehead before I lay him down and tell him how much I love him. I think I'll hold on to that as long as he will let me. He loves his blankies and that stuffed monkey. I still bundle him without his arm in and once he gets comfortable he is totally unwrapped so Im not sure if I wrap him more for me or for him. He is in 18 month clothes mostly for the length. He loves his books that make noise. He still gets up at least once a night occasionally he sleeps though the night but it is a rare occasion at this house but that's ok. He naps about 1 1/2-2 hours and sleeps about 12-13 hours at night minus when he gets up but when he does get up he takes a bottle and goes back to sleep. 

I love this little guy and can't imagine our lives without him.