A Year in Review

Rather than those Christmas letters, I thought I would do a year in review post to highlight some of our moments in the last year. As I think of them, many revolve around Charlie and medical issues...hmm...are we getting old already and all we have to talk about is medical stuff?! :)

January brought the appearance of Charlie's first few teeth. We love experiencing these milestones with our boy and know how important it is to cherish them.


February we enjoyed celebrating Kenny's 35th birthday. While this is a big milestone for anyone, we were even more pleased to celebrate this birthday given all of our medical excitment a short 6 months prior. Those experiences have given us such perspective in celebrating each moment in life and that it doesn't have to be a big celebration, just spending time together.


March brought such anticipation for spring. A little cabin fever, maybe, but we were ready! We enjoyed a few warm days around St. Patrick's Day and as our Charlie turned 9 months old he made his first little moves at crawling.



April we traveled to Colorado to have Charlie meet his only living Great Grandparent. It was a great occasion for all of us and we loved seeing Charlie and Great Grandpa Lee interact. Charlie made his official "crawling across the room" in Great Grandpa's living room. This trip also marked Charlie's first airplane ride.

When we returned, we jumped back into medical appointments for Kenny and learned in the middle of the month that his tumor had shown a slight growth since September. As unfortunate as that moment was, we knew we were in wonderful hands with our neurosurgeon and agreed right away for Kenny to have a one time radiation treatment on the tumor. This type of radiation is fairly typical after a majority of the tumor has been resected, as his was in August 2008. This type of radiation is very different from the typical run of the mill radiation and we prayed for good results.

Later in April, Charlie was also baptized and that was a wonderful day to celebrate with him.

May brought lots of fun activities including Kenny's radiation treatment, Charlie's first haircut, our first family photos, warm days swinging in the swing and looking forward to (and sometimes being a little sad about) Charlie's first birthday coming up in June. Kenny had no side effects from his radiation treatment and was actually out cutting the grass and running errands the next day. We actually really enjoyed our day at Northwestern together, I got to see the radiation machine, which was cool, and it's always some how comforting to be at Northwestern.

June brought more fun stuff like celebrating 5 years in our house, car shows, the Packard Club National meet, Charlie's first road trip and Charlie's first birthday. It was a wonderful vacation, lots to do and see, lots of people to meet and to end the week, we celebrated Charlie's birth. We were so happy to have both sets of our parents along on this trip and to celebrate Charlie's birthday!

Our summer months are always so busy and July was no exception. We started by celebrating Charlie's birthday on the 4th (his due date) with a huge party. We spent more time enjoying the warm weather, playing with friends, car shows and family in town visiting. Charlie and I ventured to Michigan to see my goddaughter Sedona compete for cheerleading and it was a nice trip.

August we began exploring more of Charlie's allergies with formal allergy skin testing. The poor little guy is allergic to eggs and nuts (specifically peanuts, but all nuts are off limits). He has a dog and dust allergy as well and others may be coming. We began our next medical learning phase about how to handle these food allergies (avoidance!!).

We also headed to Chicago for a day of visits with family and a medical appointment for Kenny. We learned that the radiation was successfully preventing further growth of the tumor and were so pleased!! We also joined the Northwestern Brain Tumor Support Group. It's a great group of people and we are so happy to be able to socialize and learn with them when we can make a meeting. It was so nice to see Kenny interact with people that have had like experiences to him and see that we aren't alone in our medical journey. I also really makes you realize the level of care we get at Northwestern.

Kenny's medical journey has been a long one, even though it has only been underway for a year and we continued to learn more about the effects of his tumor and conditions that it has left him with. One area that we had been exploring was the possibility of more children. While we know there are definately options out there for us, we know the road may not be an easy one and we spent the fall doing some serious thinking about what was really important in life.

We also went to one of our favorite car events, the Orphan Car Picnic and enjoyed a Rib Cookoff at my new office building.

In September we enjoyed more time with friends, the Farm Show at Lakewood and the Chicago Botanic Garden among other nice fall events. Charlie also hit another milestone and began taking a few independent steps, although walking didn't fully begin until October.

October brought wonderful fall days and I think Kenny and I both love this time of year best. Yummy things to eat and so many fun activities...if only snow didn't follow so soon! We continued to make the most of life and the situations we are handed.

In early November, Ted and I enjoyed a nice fall morning in the city with Charlie while Kenny got another MRI that we learned came back stable again!! We couldn't have been more happy! Dr. C told Kenny he won't have to come back for another 6 months meaning that we are getting into a more laid back, less time consuming medical life. :) Kenny and I also got the opportunity to spend a night in the city celebrating our anniversary and the dinner, hotel room and time to relax minus Charlie was wonderful!

November also gave Kenny a new, wonderful opportunity to begin a new career. While change wasn't necessarily what he was expecting, this new opportunity couldn't be passed up and is wonderful for him. I'm so proud of him for taking a chance at change and already we have seen some of the wonderful rewards this new career will bring to our family.

December brought the full on craziness that it typically does as we adjusted to Kenny's new job in addition to all the Christmas activities.


We've learned so well that life isn't always easy and while we try to make the best of what we've been handed, it's hard sometimes to deal with the changes that it forces on you. We know that in the end, we are guided to make good decisions for our family and while we may learn lessons along the way, in the end we will be stronger people for it.

We look forward to the upcoming year and all that it has to offer the three of us!!

If Looks Could Kill...

Our Little Turkey is 17 Months Old

Charlie turned 17 months old on Thanksgiving Day. We couldn't be more thankful for our little buddy and all that he has accomplished and all of the joy that he brings to us. Thanksgiving will always be a special holiday for us because two years ago, that's when we announced to our parents and families that we were expecting Charlie.

Charlie has been a busy little guy these last few months. Some of the fun things he is up to are:

* WALKING!! Everywhere! He started taking a few independent steps at the end of September and that progressed for about 3 weeks and all of a sudden, at a car show, he took off across the parking lot towards a dog. And then he did it again, this time aimed at a Rolls Royce. He's never really looked back.

* Talking. He has a lot to say. Some favorite words are: "tuck" (truck), "dog", "oof" (woof), "dat" (that), "duck" (any bird), "vroom" (when pushing cars around), "ba" (when asked what a sheep says), "all" (all done), "mama" (Mommy, Daddy or Grammy), "dada" (Sometimes he calls Daddy by his proper name), "ish" (fish), "shh" (shoes), "bya" (bye bye) and "uice" (juice).

* He can sign "more" and "all done." He won't say more while signing it, but when he signs all done he does say "all."

* More and more we find him trying to mimic what we are saying.

* He UNDERSTANDS ALOT! If you ask him if he's tired and wants a nap, he will go to his crib. If you ask if he's hungry and ready for lunch, he will go to his high chair. He can also respond by shaking his head yes or no.

* He LOVES going outside. Especially now that he's walking. He wants to be free to walk around so the new battle is to "hold hands" which doesn't always go so well for our independent little guy.

* He can stack legos very high -- maybe 6-8 pieces high.

* He tries to put his shirt on each morning while getting dressed, but only wraps it around his neck.

* He knows where his coat and hat are and tries to get them on when we are getting ready to go.

* He gives WONDERFUL hugs and kisses.

* His giggle is the best sound in the world.

* He loves fruits and veggies and sometimes that's all he will eat.

* He can pack away the food. The kid can seriously eat. I'm ready to start buying two bunches of bananas at a time so that they last a week.

* He loves to watch Elmo and Bob the Builder.

* At least once a day, he takes many of his books off the shelf in the living room and "reads" them.

* He is an expert at picking out a book for Daddy to read him his bedtime story.

* He is getting more and more new teeth. Since September, he's gotten at five new teeth that you can see and I'm sure there is another one in there about to show itself based on the amount of time he has his fingers in his mouth.

* He loves to dance...and his moves get funnier by the day. He's recently added spinning in a circle and trying to stand on his head to his list of moves. And when we laugh, he just does it more.

And the picture below...that's how alot of them look now. He's too busy for mommy and her picture taking!

Thankful

STABLE!!

Our favorite word to hear come out of the neurosurgon's mouth.

I cried this time.

We are just so thankful for his medical knowledge and grateful to have connected with him for Kenny's care.

Kenny told him so.

He acts like it's nothing, so humble.

But, really, it's something.

He recently co-founded the Northwestern Brain Tumor Institute (http://www.braintumorinstitute.org/).

He really is great.

And so is Kenny...because of him.

Kenny on his way in to get an MRI.

They put these signs up around Northwestern and I couldn't help but take a picture...the words are so true and exactly what this place provides and what so many others forget.

4 Years!!

Kenny scheduled a doctor appointment to find out the results of his latest MRI the day after our 4th wedding anniversary. I thought it was a great excuse to stay in the city the night before and enjoy a nice dinner out and some time without Charlie. We don't do things like this normally, but hey, I think we deserved it after the last 14 months we've had!

We couldn't decide where to eat, asked several people and then a few nights before we went down there, I was searching restaurants near our hotel and nothing look interesting. Then I found the restaurant at the top of the John Hancock Building...and the menu looked good, but on the side, they had a note that said if you order off the Chef's Selection Menu for the month, 10% of the meal cost will go to a charity of their choice. I clicked on a link to see the list of charity's and November was The American Brain Tumor Association. Well, I guess God was trying to tell us where to have dinner and of course that's where we went.

We got there early to have a drink and watch the sunset...beautiful. Kenny was a little freaked out at the height at first, but soon got over it. He said it was just weird to be so close to glass so far in the air. I love it!

And of course in looking at the traffic on Michigan Avenue below and picking out buildings, we found our beloved Northwestern, just blocks away. We love that place and the doctors and nurses so much for all of the wonderful care we got. It makes you realize, how lucky we are to live so close to amazing places like that.

We had a great time, slept for longer than we knew possible and can't wait to do it again sometime!

A WARM Fall Day

Extra warm November days.

Swinging in short sleeves.

Playing with the pumpkins.

Learning to throw the leaves.

Playing in Chicago

Kenny had an MRI at the beginning of November, so we tried out a Saturday appointment for it to see if it was faster or slower than during the week. He just didn't have to have any other doctors appointments around that time and we usually have those other appointments to fill the day that he needs the MRI. But, what a refreshing statement that is because it means that medically, life is slowing down and becoming more normal.

It was a beautiful day in Chicago that day and Uncle Ted met us at the hospital and we took Charlie for a walk while Kenny got his MRI. We loved doing the Saturday MRI and look forward to doing them then in the future as it gives us a chance to take Charlie into the city and do some fun activity down there...and get to see all of his uncles and aunt since they all live down there.

Now, I've always thought Uncle Ted and Charlie look alike...and some of these pictures will confirm it. I love the one of them walking together. So sweet!

We walked along Michigan Avenue, watched the cars, went to the old Water Tower and played on the steps and then found a park! Charlie was in heaven and so was I because Uncle Ted could chase him up and down the equipment and I could take pictures!

We can't wait to do it again!