Jake and his Buddies

Jake playing swords with some of the neighborhood boys. This spring/summer has been a lot of fun because the boys are both very excited about playing with the neighborhood kids and we spent most week nights and weekends outside playing. Jake loves playing swords, guns, and ninjas with the older boys!

Josh Loves Bubbles!

He goes crazy for bubbles! Mainly because he wants to blow into the wand and make the bubbles! Definitely ranks up there as a fav activity for him.

Easter

Happy Easter! This morning the boys were greeted by their baskets that the Easter Bunny left for them. (Jake really wanted to meet the Easter Bunny and give him a hug!) Then we went outside (beautiful, warm, sunny day!) for an easter egg hunt. It was great fun to watch the boys get so excited about finding the hidden eggs.

Of course now the challenge is preventing the boys from eating massive quantities of chocolate!

On Thursday, Oma and I took the boys to a neighborhood easter egg hunt in Paul's parent's neighborhood. Jake and Josh chased down eggs with about 20 other kids and then they ran around to their heart's content.

This afternoon we're headed to my parent's house to enjoy an Easter Sunday dinner with the family.

Enjoy slideshow of photos below!

Jumping Jimmy's

The boys' FAVORITE thing to do after school.... and why they think their Daddy is the best... he takes them all the time! (They don't get as excited when Mommy picks them up from school......!)

BOBO

Mosley

In October 2004, after only a couple months of dating, I picked out Mosley as an early birthday/Christmas gift for Paul. He talked about wanting a rotweiller or a boxer and not knowing too much about boxers, I started to look into the breed. I fell in love with the sweet faces and big brown eyes, and was more than comfortable to know how happy go-lucky they are and how wonderful they are with kids. Gretchen and I made the trek to Orange, VA to pick out a pup from a litter. He was tall and gangly; such long legs and such a big head and tongue. But it was love at first sight. We named him Mosley after Sugar Shane Mosley, the boxer. It seemed like such a perfect fit. In hindsight, we probably should have caged him as a pup because he destroyed our apartment. And when I say "our apartment", I mean mine and Sara's so god bless Sara for being so patient through the whole ordeal. Mosley ate pillows, comforters, sheets, a North Face jacket, Trivial Pursuit, baskets, magazines, foil, and lots and lots of underwear. He did his fair share of pooping on our cream colored carpet. It's amazing he made it through that phase of his life. Mosley and Bailey became best friends right away. I was worried that Bailey, being three years old and rather set in his ways, wouldn't be too thrilled about an addition to the family but the two of them bonded and became buds for life. We always joked that Mosley kept Bailey young and vibrant... He was a little unsure of what to think when we brought Jake home from the hospital in August 2007. He couldn't figure out what the little baby noises were and was pretty convinced that there was an injured animal in our house that needed his help. He tried every way he could think of to get into the pack 'n play to figure it out. Eventually he got used to the little squeals and cries and Mosley and Jake grew up as best friends. When Josh came into the picture, Mosley was much more laid back. He though, "I've got this. More friends to play with!" He was so incredibly patient with every ear tug, eye poke, and smack on the back. I think he always knew that it was the boys letting him know how much they love him. Talk about excellent with kids, I couldn't have been more impressed. Mosley always liked being in on the action. Wherever people were, he had to be there. That included thinking at 90 pounds that he was a lap dog. I'll never forget one fourth of July when Paul was setting off fireworks across the street from our house in Haymarket and poor Mosley was so petrified that he hopped in Allison's lap for comfort. I'm having a terrible time writing this in present tense vs. past tense so apologies for some of the mixing of tense above. Mosley is still with us but things have taken a turn for the worst and we're working on planning to say goodbye to him in the next week. And now the tears start rolling in again.... March was not a fun month. It was very hectic with all that I had going on at work, I was just getting over pneumonia, and then Mosley got sick. It started about three weeks ago with Mosley essentially gagging his food and water back up after he ate. It wasn't even vomiting, the food just wasn't getting down. We were worried that he had a blockage in his throat from some rawhides that Josh had given him a couple days prior so when things weren't getting better and then the whole area around his left eye swelled up, I took him into the vet. The urgent concern was if there was a rawhide blockage in his esophagus. A couple of x-rays showed that there was definitely something there. And there wasn't just one "mass", there were two. The next step was to get Mosley to The Life Centre (TLC) in Leesburg for an endoscopy to see exactly what was going on. The results were crushing. There wasn't a blockage from rawhide, he had two masses, most likely cancerous, that were causing about an 80% blockage in his esophagus. He immediately had to go on a liquid diet and had a biopsy done of one of the masses in his esophagus and two other biopsies done of the mass/swelling around his eye and a mass in his chest area. Mosley spent the weekend at TLC. I can't speak highly enough about the staff and doctors there. They were incredibly patient, knowledgable, and understanding through the whole ordeal, including helping with options for the financial aspect of the treatments. We were finally able to bring him home that Sunday evening (he had been there since Friday night) and continue with the liquid diet (which didn't phase him at all). The next day we got the devastating news that the biopsies in his eye and chest were positive for lymphoma. Eventually the biopsy of his esophagus came back inconclusive but the natural assumption was that the masses were on the outside of his esophagus pushing inwards so the sample taken during the endoscopy didn't capture the actual tumor. For anyone who has had a pet with cancer, I am sure you can relate to the horrible events and emotions that come next. We essentially had two treatment options -- steroids or chemo. We love Mosley to pieces but knowing how aggressive his lymphoma was (it came on out of no where), even the chemo options only gave him another 4-10 months, it was incredibly expensive, and we'd have to take him to the hospital once a week for treatments. Even with that, the chemo would make him feel icky, and the ultimate end was still going to be the same. Eventually the cancer would come back with avengence. Paul and I made the very difficult decision to treat with just steroids, knowing that would only give him 1-3 months, at most. He responded very well to the steroids at first and for about a week and half, seemed like his old self, with the exception of drinking 10 gallons of water a day and eating a ton of food (side effects). The other terrible side effect from the steroids is increased "having to go to the bathroom". Unfortunately, Paul and I have literally spent the last two weeks cleaning up pee and poo around the house multiple times a day. Even when we would be at home with him, he'd just start peeing because he couldn't hold it in. Of course we didn't yell or punish, we just ended up going through A LOT of towels and A LOT of carpet cleaner. A couple of days ago, I noticed that the swelling in his chest seemed like it was coming back and you can definitely feel the big, hard mass in his chest. He started limping, presumably because it's painful and/or because the mass is making it difficult for him to move his shoulder/leg the correct way. The swelling under his eye is coming back a little bit at a time as well. He's also started laying around and sleeping a lot more as well. The vet explained it to me like feeling like you have a bad case of the flu. He just feels crappy and wants to take it easy. His body aches, he's tired and slow, and every part of my body wishes there was something I could do to take it all away. I am still going through the denial phase. I can't believe that he's sick and dying. He still looks good. He hasn't lost weight. His face is still so sweet and happy. He is wagging his little stub of a tail. But you can also tell that he isn't himself and that the cancer is slowly taking over. I don't want him to be in pain and be suffering. But making the decision about when to say goodbye is heartbreaking. Where do you draw the line? How do you make the final decision? I took Mosley to our vet today to talk about what I have noticed over the last couple of days. She recommended that we take a couple of days to say our goodbyes, keep a close eye on him, and call her when we're ready. I know we'll get through this but boy I don't want to have to make this decision. He's only 6 1/2 and has been such a loyal, loving, and wonderful dog for our family. The boys adore him ("BoBo, BoBo!") and Bailey is going to be devastated without his best buddy around. So sweet, sweet Mosley, we are going to miss you so, so much but we'll try to find comfort in knowing that you won't be in pain or be suffering. We love you!

Where To?

Jake: "Mama, I wanna go on a helicopter to go visit Handy Manny!" (emphasis on the Handy Manny part... imagine a high pitch squeal of delight). This all started after Titi Eva went to Disneyland and sent back pictures of her WITH Handy Manny. A real, live, human sized (complete with overly large head) HANDY MANNY! Oh it was all over from there. A trip to Disney was in the cards.

Lucky for us, Uncle Sam gave us a HUGE break on our taxes from last year (i.e., Paul spent more starting up in the real estate business than he made and I guess the federal gov't helps out those entrepreneurs.... at least for the first two years). So a third of our refund is paying for a fabulous family vacation to Disney World at the end of September. The only bummer? Waiting six months to go! But, it will go by fast. I graduate from my certificate program at Georgetown on September 23rd and we fly out on September 27th so it will be quite the treat to look forward to. That, and we hear we will miss some of the crowds and the heat by going at the end of September.

Okay, so I have never been to Disney World. I know. What have I been missing?!? And of course this will be Jake and Josh's first trip. They will be 4 and 2.25, respectively. It will be their first time on an airplane, too. Thank goodness for JetBlue's non-stop flight from Dulles to Orlando and their TV's in the back of every seat.

With the help of a wonderful travel agent (let me know if you need one!), we are going for 6 days/ 5 nights to Disney's Caribbean Beach Resort (http://disneyworld.disney.go.com/resorts/caribbean-beach-resort/) with passes to go to the Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Epcot, Hollywood Studios, Blizzard Beach, and Typhoon Lagoon.

AND..... one of the restaurants in Hollywood Studios does a character meal with Handy Manny. Are these kids going to be in heaven or what?

Paul and I are so excited to go and experience all of the magic and adventure through their eyes. Nothing like being a kid again!

Blogging from Bed

Well this doesn't happen too often... Not that I don't spend some time in my bed every day, but this week has taken it to a whole new level. Let's see, in bed since 4pm on Tuesday... that's about 100 hours laying on that tempur pedic. Roughly two weeks of sleeping time for me. (I'm a nerd, remember? I love numbers, patterns, analysis....)

It all began on a cold, rainy Sunday morning.....

No, no, not really.

But I do have pneumonia. How the heck did that happen? A healthy, active, thirty year old. Who knows. Guess someone decided they wanted to give me a week's vacation.... IN BED.

So today is Saturday... (special shout out to my brother, Nick, who turns 27 today, and whose birthday dinner I am so sorry to be missing right now)... I started feeling sick this past Sunday. Fluish type symptoms. Headache, kinda tired, chills, blah. I chalked it up to needing some sleep. I went to work on Monday. Delivered a stellar presentation in front of about 65 people (standing, no podium, no notes, ick). Still not feeling so hot. Wake up on Tuesday morning pretty convinced I have the flu but had two meetings so went to the office from 11-3 and then had to go home and curl up in a ball in bed, and pretty much have been there ever since!

It kind of went downhill and got progressively worse from there. Fever went up to 102-103, literally couldn't move, worst headache of my life, cough started, the whole nine yards. I EVEN MISSED an important meeting at work on Wednesday afternoon (1) because my boss and colleagues wouldn't let me come in and (2) because I physically couldn't take a shower or drive to the office. By Thursday morning, I whimpered for Paul to take me to urgent care to see what was going on. Worst doctor's office visit ever. I know, what should I expect from an urgent care, but ever since we switched insurance, I haven't found a good primary care doctor for Paul and I that I like. Whatever. I'll get back on that quest soon. So the doctor gives me a flu test, which is what I was expecting, but surprisingly it came back negative. Obviously the doctor saw how sick I was. I couldn't even open my eyes to look at him because the lights hurt too much. He listened to my lungs, looked me over, and chalked it up to a virus but gave me some antibiotics just in case and told me to go to the hospital if I got worse or wasn't any better in 24 hours. I should mention that I was so sick that I didn't even turn on my laptop and I barely checked my blackberry. Now THAT means something is wrong. I felt too terrible to even focus, think, or use the energy to type.

I about had Paul take me to the ER on Thursday night because I had a migraine strength headache for about three hours. Here I am laying in bed, all lights off, fan on high, cold washcloth over my face, in agony while I listen to Jake and Paul sleep. I guess I finally dozed off for at least a little bit.

Paul called in to work on Friday morning to tell them he was taking me to the ER. We dropped off the boys at school and went to the (amazing) Heathcote Health Center (aka: Haymarket ER). This is the same place I took Josh about a year ago when he had the 105 degree fever and also where I took Paul just a couple of weeks ago due to his episode of swollen tonsils and not being able to breathe (strep throat). This place is the BEST. Not that I hope anyone has to actually ever go there but it is top-notch. It's brand new, clean, fast, quiet, and has extremely nice staff, nurses, and doctors. The in-take nurse took my pulse, blood pressure, and temperature, walked me to the back, and told the nurse on duty that I was going to need an IV. The doctor came in to see me within about 15-20 minutes, listened to my lungs/chest and immediately said that he thought I had pneumonia (how did the urgent care doctor miss that?). They took me back for a chest x-ray, then pumped me with an IV of fluids (I was pretty dehydrated from the fever) and gave me some fantastic pain killer for my headache (and some anti-nausea meds). The persistent little booger of a headache didn't want to go away though. After about 20 minutes of relief, it came back. Another dose of pain killer. This wasn't just your typical percocet or vicodin. This was something that made me feel nice and loopy. (Ask Paul, I started talking about silly stuff.)

So the doctor comes back and tells me that I do definitely have a pretty good case of pneumonia going on, that I am going to feel crappy for another 5 days or so, that I can't go back to work for 5 days, to do a lot of resting, and drink a lot of fluids. They gave me a heavy duty dose of the antibiotic to start me off (over 90 minutes through the IV), got some ativan in the IV to see if THAT would help with the headache, and then discharged me. So we got there at about 8:30am and left at about 12pm. Not too shabby at all.

I slept for most of the day but managed to get up and play a game of Candyland with Jake and Paul and then passed out again. The headache was still pretty bad this morning (even two vicodin wouldn't kill it) but as of a couple of hours ago, I am starting to feel a little better. I even put a load of laundry in tonight.... to get started on the 12 loads that need to be done :-)

I really appreciate my family and friends who sent their get well wishes and the offers for help with the boys. It means a lot. Thanks to my parents and brother who sent flowers, my 'gang' at work who sent flowers, Paul's mom for making my favorite casserole and watching the boys this morning while Paul did some work stuff, Gretch & Ally for coming over tomorrow to hang with the boys and help me with some laundry, and everyone else who has been wishing me well. You guys are awesome.

Poor Paul has done so much hard work this week taking care of the boys, the dogs, and the house on his own. INCLUDING driving to Woodbridge this afternoon to take Josh to an urgent care (that was actually open; the ones by us were closed) and to go to my brother's birthday dinner. What a sweet guy! He'll be enjoying his well-deserved day "off" tomorrow by mountain biking with friends and getting a massage. He has been so sweet and patient every step of the way. I know it's been hard at times.

Luckily Josh man just has an ear infection (well, yet another one) and he's on antibiotics now. We were worried that he could have something worse since he's been exposed to me. He has a bit of an icky sounding cough but his fever isn't too high so the doctor felt pretty confident that he should be fine after a round of the good old pink stuff.

Oh and I celebrated finally feeling a little better tonight by eating a steak. Most food I have eaten in about a week!

And finally, when I woke up this morning, I saw the boys' dinosaur dude positioned in exactly the pose that you see below. Thus my immediate first thought this morning was, wow, that's how I feel! Too good to miss!

Fantasy Playground

This weekend we took the boys to the Fantasy Playground in Lake Ridge (a couple miles from my parent's house). When my brother and I were little, my dad helped build the all wood playground and being there with the boys brought back such fun memories. And of course, they had a blast!

October 25 - 29, 1989
1400 volunteers
Amazing
Now Paul and I are starting to look into resources for trying to do something like that in Haymarket/Gainesville.

My first attempt at a photo collage online below, from the playground. Pictures ended up a little blurry in the collage but you get the idea :-)