Consolidation day 18

How things are going generally                                                                                                               Things are going pretty well this phase and I’m so grateful.  He’s been chewing his oral pills with out too much of a fight and the whole keeping him from eating before and after he takes them for a couple hours hasn’t been as hard as I imagined.  And he doesn’t seem to be too effected by any of his treatments.  So overall I’m really grateful. 

Biggest challenge right now                                                                                                                        One of my biggest challenges right now is knowing how careful I have to be…and then actually being that careful.  For example, Lincoln and Sawyer love the park.  Whenever we go outside they want to go there.  When we take them we Clorox the swings and let them swing, but then they always wants to go down the slide and play on the equipment.  It’s a lot harder to sanitize an entire playground.  I know we should be as careful as possible, but it’s just so hard!  And what are the chances that he’ll really get sick from playing on a playground?  But is it worth the risk?  It’s like that with everything.  When I need babysitters for Sawyer when I take Lincoln in for treatments we feel like we shouldn’t have Saywer around other kids so we’ve been having my couple of friends with out kids watch him.  But what are the chances really that Sawyer would get sick from my friends kids who aren’t presenting symptoms of sickness at the time and then Sawyer get Lincoln sick?  I feel like the likelihood is next to nothing, but I also don’t want to have regrets if Lincoln did get sick, and Ryan definitely feels like we shouldn’t take any chances.  It’s so annoying!!  And I miss just hanging out with my friends and their kids.  Ryan and I both feel like in a about a month when flu season is completely over we can relax a little bit more which will be so nice.

Goodbye Dr. Shaver                                                                                                                                          I took Sawyer in for his 18 month appointment to the boys pediatrician Dr. Shaver yesterday.  It was the first time I’d seen him since Lincoln was diagnosed and probably the last time I’ll see him since we’re moving in July.  I was sad to say goodbye and hope I can find a pediatrician like him in NC.  He is so great.   I’m so grateful he was intuned enough and careful enough in his examining of Lincoln to decide to order a blood test for him back on January 16th, because really there were no obvious signs that anything was wrong with him.  He was just a little pale with a history of slightly abnormal feeling lymph nodes.  But between Ryan bringing up the lymph nodes and Dr. Shaver deciding he was pale with lots of bruises, they were able to figure out something was wrong before Lincoln had the chance to get really, really sick.  I’ll always be grateful for Dr. Shaver in our lives.  On another note, Sawyer is doing great!  A little on the tall side and average weight and head size.  Dr. Shaver asked if he could say at least five words which I guess is about average for 18 month olds.  Sawyer says at least 200 words.  Probably more.  He’s a talker that’s for sure.

Sleeping on the couch                                                                                                                                      Ever since Lincoln got sick he’s slept on the couch only.  As a result he’s basically dropped him daily nap.  This is sad for me because now I don’t really get a break all day.  Then at night we have to get the whole house dark and quite for him to go to sleep and I have to “snuggle him” and scratch his back until he falls asleep.  This usually takes between 15 minutes and an hour.  By the time that’s all over with it’s usually ten pm and I’m exhausted and go to be myself.  I try and just enjoy the time with him because I know he’ll be all grown up before I know it and I’ll wish I could snuggle him for one more hour, but I also really miss my time from 1-3 and 8-10.  I miss my TV shows.  I miss hanging out with Ryan after the boys go to bed.  Sigh.  We just don’t have the heart to make him cry it out in his crib.  Next phase he’s scheduled to be the hospital for 4 days every other week for two months so what’s the point of making him cry it out in his crib only to mess him all up again.

Funny quote                                                                                                                                                   The other day we were outside and the wind was blowing and Lincoln put his hands on his bald little head and said “Da wind is blowing all my hair!”  It made me laugh.

Now some pictures.                                                                                                                                        A lot of people have asked me what it looks like when Lincoln’s port is accessed.  Here’s a pic.  In another week he has to stay accessed for four days in a row twice again.  It makes me nervous. See all that tape?  He hates getting it removed.  I don’t blame him.

My old Bishop in Iowa sent Linc this hat.  Love it.

Playing outside.

At the zoo.

If you’re interested in Sawyer’s weekend with Hannah while I was on my girl’s trip you can check it out on my sisters blog here