Normal

 We have all been enjoying "normal" life and all our time together.  There's been family dance parties and hours and hours of playing with siblings, cousins, neighbors and friends.  I've been able to attend several special events at Wesley's school in the last couple weeks...probably doubling the amount of time I've been able to spend at the school this year.

Nate has been very good about wearing his mask, so we have let Nate get out to a few calculated places as long as he wears his mask and I have lots of Clorox wipes and "hanitizer" in tow.  One of those places was to Wesley's baseball practice and game.  Nate sat and cheered, "swing batter, batter, batter" and "come on Wesley, you can do it".  He's his brother's biggest fan.  He also got to be a big team helper and help the coach gather up all the baseballs after practice.  Next year...he gets to play...I can't wait to see him on that field.

The kids have been outside every single day playing with the best neighbors on the planet until it gets dark.  The weather is beautiful and other than some nasty allergies, we are really enjoying being outside every second we can.

We've also had the small matter of a big boy's 6th birthday to celebrate.  I've been busy planning a special angry birds party for my sweet boy.  There's nothing Wes loves more than a well planned party and even though we had to contend with some major wind...I think the party was a hit.

Nate helped me fill Wesley's room with balloons, on his actual birthday, while he was at school.  Then we celebrated with Wes's favorite meal, Chino Bandito, some gifts and chocolate cake.  Really, unless a beach is involved, you pretty much can't beat all the fun we've been having over the last couple weeks.

 Tuesday, Daddy took Ellie down to Phoenix Children's Hospital for an ultrasound first thing in the morning.  You see...Ellie has a big belly (yes, I am aware that rhymes)...she also has some chunky thighs to match.  The problem is that a large abdomen is one of the possible signs of neuroblastoma.  Ellie is also almost 18 months old and there is a "magic" age cut off for a possibly better prognosis if neuroblastoma is diagnosed prior to 18 months.  The chances of 2 siblings having neuroblastoma is extremely, extremely rare...but, it does happen and I now have a hard time seeing a big belly as merely pudge.  So, Ellie asked me to please go ahead and get her an ultrasound again because she was tired of me squishing her belly and feeling for a tumor every time I changed her diaper.  The results were back almost before Daddy and Ellie got back from the hospital.  Thank the Lord, all that is in Ellie's belly...is Ellie...and too many "crackas".

 A couple hours later, I took Nate to clinic.  I couldn't wait to get him on the scale.  He hadn't been weighed in a week and he is starting to look so filled out.  He officially weighed in (without boots) at 16.6kg (up a full kg from a week ago)!!  That is the heaviest he has been since before his first surgery in July.  I am just so happy and so proud of him for how well he is doing.  All his blood work came back great.  His hemoglobin is coming back up on its own and is almost normal and his platelets are normal.  We got to meet with Nate's main oncologist and discuss the next step after radiation which is antibody treatment.  We started talking about some dates so that I can plan out the summer a little bit.  I hope to sign Wes up for summer camps while Nate is going to be in the hospital and I hope find a week that we can plan our normal, summer San Diego trip.  Nate has been talking about going to "our big house at the beach" (a condo we rented last year), since we got back in July (5 days before our world eploded) and I would love to make this happen for him.  I know that trip will help pull us all through this treatment a little easier...I really hope we can work it out.

So now I am frantically getting ready for Easter and packing for Houston.  I can't believe we leave on Sunday.  As much as I'd like to stay suspended in these last couple of weeks of fun that we have had, I am anxious to get another part of this treatment checked off our list.  I'm nervous but I know Nate is a true super hero and I know he will power through this just like he has powered through the last 9 months.