Bowling

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan did come out of his room last night and I did have to fight him a little bit to get him back into bed.

This morning both boys woke up at pretty much the same time - just before 9am. I got Noah dressed and took them downstairs. We watched some television and then we played Wii. Noah and Evan played each other in boxing, bowling and baseball. It was funny watching the box. They somehow knocked each other down at the exact same time.

When Grandmom got up, we decided to go bowling. Rachel continued to sleep so it was just the four of us. Both boys seemed to really enjoy themselves. Evan actually had the highest score of the four. Everytime Noah pushed the ball down, he'd yell "Go Noah's ball! Go Noah's ball!" Evan and Noah would both lay on their stomacks while they watched the ball go down.

We came home and had lunch. Neither boy ate much. Then they took naps.

Noah got up first at the end of the third period of Gold Medal hockey game between the US and Canada. Noah ended up watching the overtime with me. At one point he said he wanted to watch Sesame Street.

For dinner we went to the California Pizza Kitchen. Neither boy ate much there.

We came home and gave the kids baths.

They are now in bed. Evan came out and Rachel put him back to bed and read to him.

Until next time...

The Outlets

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Evan did come out of his room last night but he didn't fight with us too badly. He was in a much better mood than on Thursday night when he really fought us.

Evan got up at 7:45 this morning. I got him set up in the game room with a movie and some breakfast. He was good about letting us sleep from there. I think he went in and got Grandmom at some point. I got up around 9:45 and Grandmom, Evan, Noah and I all played in the game room.

We eventually made it downstairs and the boys watched Wall-E in addition to running around and jumping into pillows that Evan set up.

When Rachel got downstairs, we decided to drive to the outlets. The boys needed some summer stuff as well as some shoes. We stopped at Chick-Fil-A on the way.

We went to the Stride Rite outlet first since their shoes fit the boys well. Both boys have really thick, wide feet and Stride Ride sells shoes that are wide. Almost immediately, I saw that they sold Toy Story shoes. We found one in each boy's size. Evan gave us a hard time when we had to take those shoes off to try on other shoes. He ended up wearing them out of the store. The boys also got sandals. And Evan got some nicer shoes.

We went from there to the Gap outlet. We got some things for Evan but nothing, unfortunately for Noah. Rachel also got some clothes.

After that Grandmom made a quick run over to the Ralph Lauren outlet, Rachel and Noah went to Nike, and Evan and I went to the bathroom.

We went home and the boys took naps.

For dinner, we decided we'd try to get Evan some crab since he enjoyed it so much last week. We found that a place called Pappadeaux was reasonably priced and sold crab. We called ahead and drove up there. It's about 30 to 35 minutes away. When we got there they said it was still a 45 minute wait even though we put our name on the list earlier. In fact, it took us a little while to get out of the house and they said that it should have been about an hour. So Rachel told them either they seated us then or we were leaving. They sat us right then. It was pretty good. Noah was a bit of a pain. Evan ended up not eating that much of the crab after all that.

We came home and the boys are now in bed. We have not heard from Evan yet. I stress the word "yet".

Until next time...

Getting Ready for Grandmom

This morning we went to playgroup at Marissa’s house. Evan and Noah had a good time. In fact, Evan did not want to leave.

After playgroup we went to HEB to get some food for us and Grandmom/Marilyn who was coming in later today.

We came home and ate lunch. Then, the boys took naps.

After naps we drove to the airport to pick up Grandmom and then we ate at Carinos.

We just put the boys to bed.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

Well, I’m starting to see a light at the end of this tunnel.

I was in Dallas earlier in the week for doctor’s appointments. I had my last expansion at the plastic surgeon’s office. Now, we can schedule the implant surgery for May. The breast surgeon removed my PowerPort (where my chemo was injected). When I had the port put in, I saw a surgeon here in Austin who gave me general anesthesia. To get it removed, the breast surgeon only numbed the area and I was awake the whole time. The procedure took about 45 minutes. She put in dissolvable stitches. I was ok at first, but later in the day I was really hurting and had a rough night. I’m feeling a lot better now. I still hurt where the port was removed, but it’s getting better.

I’m really starting to feel better and get back to normal. Like I said before, I started tutoring again. I see 4 students during the week now. I wanted to start back slowly. We are trying out a few gyms. We got a 2 week trial at 24Hour fitness and I did a few group classes (Yoga, Latin Dance aerobics, aqua class). The gym has a childcare. At first, Noah wasn’t too happy about us dropping him off, but Evan was fine. After a few times, both boys were having a great time there. We are going to try Lifetime Fitness next and compare the two gyms. I really want to get back in to exercising and I think it will be easier going somewhere with a childcare rather than trying to push both boys in the stroller. I tried running for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I had Evan (40 lbs) and Noah (30 lbs) in the double stroller and was only able to run about 10 minutes.

My hair is starting to grow back. It’s somewhat patchy right now, but it is filling in. The color seems to be a light brown. It’s too early to tell whether it will be straight or curly. Attached are some pictures of my hair growth after chemo. It’s been about 2 months since my last chemotherapy.

Next weekend Evan and Morry go to baseball Spring Training in Florida. Noah and I will stay at home. My parents plan on coming to Austin that weekend to help me out. Noah has really been a handful lately. He demands a lot of attention and it’s hard to get anything done.

The weekend after that I go to Chicago.

We have been looking forward to these trips for a while and it’s hard to believe they are almost here.

Well, just wanted to send out another update. Things are good for the most part. I do have some bad days, but overall, things are going well and I feel we are all starting to get back to how we were before all of this. There are times where I get frustrated because I just don’t have the energy to do everything I was doing before. That’s my main complaint now. Physically I feel decent, but I get worn out very easily. I can tell it’s getting better though.

Hope you all are doing well. Have a great weekend.

Back Home in Austin

Evan didn’t go to sleep until 11pm last night. Noah was up once in the middle of the night. I didn’t sleep so well because I was hurting.

This morning I got everything packed up and loaded the car.

Evan, Noah, and I went over to Sherah’s house. Evan and Noah had a great time playing with Nolan and Court. Sherah picked up pizza and Starbucks coffee. We had a nice lunch. We stayed until about 2pm and then drove back to Austin from there.

It was not a very pleasant car ride. Evan was ok, but Noah was very whiny and cried a lot. I was so glad to get him home and out of the car.

Morry picked up Torchy’s Tacos for us for dinner. He made nuggets for the boys. Noah didn’t eat any. He cried in his highchair. We took him out so at least we could eat our dinner in peace.

I unpacked the boys’ stuff and then we got them ready for bed.

They are both in bed now, but Evan has already come out of his room.

Bye Bye Port

Last night Evan didn't go to sleep until midnight. The boys were up early again this morning. I was really exhausted.

For lunch, I picked up McDonalds for the boys.

Tricia, my parents' neighbor, came over at 11:30 to watch the boys.

At 12:30 I had an appointment with the plastic surgeon. I had my last expansion and he said it was ok to schedule the implant surgery in May.

At 1:30, I met with the breast surgeon and she removed my port. It was about a 45 minute surgery. I was not put to sleep. She just gave me lots of numbing medicine around the area.

It feels good to have my port out, but I'm really hurting right now, now that the medicine wore off.

For dinner we ate at Rockfish.

Noah is asleep right now, but Evan is here with me and won't go to sleep.

No Snow

Dallas, at least North Dallas, didn't get snow today. There was snow in Austin and between Austin and Dallas. It was a good thing I drove to Dallas yesterday. It's too bad the boys missed the snow.

Evan and Noah were up around 8am this morning.

For lunch, we picked up Bubbe and went to Sweet Tomatoes. Evan and Noah were very well behaved there. Noah didn't eat that much though. He had a ton of raisins and little bit of ice cream.

We came home to Grandma and Papa's house and Evan, Noah, and I took naps.

For dinner Grandma made a fish chowder. It was very good.

Papa and I gave the boys baths and then talked to Morry on Skype.

Evan is standing here next to me. Hope he goes to bed soon.

Dallas a Day Early

This will be quick. Evan, Noah, and I are in Dallas now.

I have 2 appointments Wednesday. One is with the plastic surgeon, the other is with the breast surgeon to get my port removed.

We had planned on leaving Tuesday after Evan's school.

They are predicting snow tomorrow for the areas between Dallas and Austin so I decided it would be best to drive in today.

It was a busy, non-stop day. I had to quickly pack up all of our stuff and take care of the boys today. Evan didn't nap. At 3:00 we had the closing at the title company for refinancing our house.

We got to Lynn/Grandma and Lenny/Papa's house at 10pm.

The boys were really excited. It's now midnight and Evan just went to bed.

Noah the Handful

Noah got up again last night during the middle of the night. Morry and I each went in his room one time during the night.

Evan was up early. He got his breakfast from the pantry and Morry put on a movie for him.

At 10:45 I left the house to get a massage. I got a great deal at Massage Envy on LivingSocial Deals. My massage was 1 ½ hours.

Afterwards, I met Morry and the boys at McDonalds for lunch. Morry was glad to have my help. He said Noah was being very needy this morning. We got a good deal on lunch at McDonalds. We had coupons for a free coffee and a free burger. The boys didn’t eat that much at lunch. The mostly wanted to play with their Happy Meal toys. The weather was very nice this afternoon, so we went to the McDonalds playground for a little bit. Evan enjoyed climbing and playing on the playscape. Noah just walked around it. He wasn’t so interested in climbing.

We drove home and put Evan and Noah down for naps. They both took a while to fall asleep. Noah was crying and calling for us. Evan kept coming downstairs. Eventually, they did sleep for a little bit.

We had spaghetti for dinner tonight.

Right now Evan and Noah are eating Animal crackers sitting with Morry. The both just told Morry they love him. Awh.

Ok, time to get these little guys to bed so we can have some free, hopefully relaxing time.

Aunt Jane and Uncle Norman

Hello everyone, this is Morry.

Noah and Evan both got up throughout the night. Evan woke me up because he had to go to the bathroom. He wanted me to turn the light on. I put a night light in the bathroom tonight so he didn't need me. Noah cried for no apparent reason. We're going to have to break the two of these habits.

Evan then got up at 7am this morning. He got himself breakfast and then I put a movie on for him.

Once everyone was up and had breakfast, we went to the gym. Rachel did the Latin Dance class, the boys went into daycare and I ran and then lifted weights. Noah seemed excited to get to the gym and he ran back to the daycare. I kept peeking in on them and every time I looked in, I saw Evan racing full speed to go to another part of the room.

After the gym we got smoothies at Smoothie King. Both boys really like smoothies and were excited.

For lunch, neither boy ate that well. Noah barely ate anything and Evan had some oatmeal. Rachel and I made breakfast tacos with eggs and some leftover potatoes and cheese.

While everyone was napping I watched the Olympics. I watched the cross-country skiing and I have to admit, it was kind of exciting. It was 30km but there were 8 laps. Half of the laps were done in "classic" style and the second half were done "freestyle". They actually changed skis at the midway point. Right after the midway point, this one Swede got a huge lead. He was able to change skis the fastest. He eventually opened a 25 second lead. What was really interesting was that his two teammates basically sacrificed themselves. They went to the head of the back and then skied shoulder-to-shoulder not letting anyone by and they went very slowly to let their teammate open up such a big lead. But then at the end of the last lap, the guy out in front lost steam and it was a race to the finish. The one Swede who had seemingly sacrificed himself ended up winning and the one guy who had led most of the way got bronze.

For dinner we met Matt, Rachael, Ben and Molly at the County Line BBQ. Matt's parents, my Uncle Norman and Aunt Jane (making their blog debut) were visiting so we wanted to see them. They treated us to a very nice dinner. Evan enjoyed sitting with Ben and Molly and Noah enjoyed the attention that Uncle Norman and Aunt Jane were giving him. Evan ended up eating a lot, eventually. Noah again didn't eat that well. After dinner Uncle Norman and Aunt Jane gave the boys toys. Evan got RC from Toy Story and Noah got a bunch of toy cars from the movie Cars. Both boys were extremely happy with their gifts.

When we got home the boys played with their toys some and then we gave them baths. They are in bed now.

Until next time...

Last Minute Playgroup

We were supposed to go to someone’s house today for playgroup but she got sick. I offered to have people come over to our house at the last minute. I figured it was better than not doing anything today. We enjoy the playgroups and our house was already a mess anyway. I warned people that I didn’t have time to straighten up the house. Bodar came with her 2 kids and Lisa came with her daughter. We had a nice time. Evan enjoyed playing with the two girls his age. Noah mostly played by himself. I put out some snacks and made coffee. We all had a nice time.

Since Evan and Noah snacked throughout the playgroup they didn’t want lunch. I put them down around 1:30 and they both slept for a long time. Noah got up around 5 and Evan 5:30.

For dinner we went to Joe’s Crab Shack. Evan ate really well. We shared a crab and shrimp platter. Evan ate all of the shrimp and lots of crab. He also ate some fruit we brought from home. Noah just ate a few things we brought from home. There was a really loud, big party near us. They were screaming. It was really annoying. At one point they were so loud it scared Noah and he started crying. Besides that dinner worked out well.

We just got Evan and Noah ready for bed, but like always, they are both still awake. We’ll see how the night goes.