Picnic at the Playground

Late morning I took the boys to the school playground. Noah gave me a hard time leaving the house. He didn't want to leave, but I said, "Too bad. We're going." He made it extremely difficult to get him dressed. I threatened to throw him naked into the stroller. He eventually let me put on his clothes (except his shoes). At one point he threw his sweatshirt out of the stroller and wheel ran over it. He finally calmed down as we got closer to the school.

At the school the boys played on the playground and then we played baseball. I pitched to Evan and then Noah decided he wanted a turn. He actually hit quite a few balls that I pitched to him.

I packed a picnic lunch for the boys and we ate at a table there.

We played a little more after lunch and then walked home. Noah walked the whole way home.

At 4pm a handy man came over to give us some ideas for putting up a door in the upstairs office/nook.

While he was here the doorbell rang. Evan's friend Jack was riding his bike near our house and wanted to see if Evan wanted to come play in the cul-de-sac. Jack was with his mom and sister so Evan, Noah, and I joined them down the street. Evan rode his bike just a little bit, but spent most of the time on his scooter. Noah had fun on his tricycle.

Tonight, we went to Petco, Toys R Us (to use some gift cards), and Blue Bamboo to take home food.

We just finished eating dinner at home and now we'll get the boys ready for bed.

White Blood Cells

This morning Evan got up while Morry was getting ready for work. Morry got Evan some breakfast and put on a movie for him.

Gabby came at 7:30am.

I had a doctor’s appointment at 9:00am. Last Thursday I had my blood checked in Dallas and my white blood cell count was very low. It was 1.1 and the normal range is 4.1-11.1. The doctor was not overly concerned. She said it was expected and actually a sign that the chemo was working. The doctor said I needed to be extremely careful not to get sick or get an infection when my WBC is so low. I was told if my levels don’t go up on their own I would need to get a shot (that can cause a lot of bone pain). At my appointment today, I had my blood checked again. It went up a little. It was at 1.8. Since it appears to be going up I did not need a shot today. Before my next chemo they will check my levels again.

On my way home I stopped at the mall. It was only about 10:30 so I figured it wouldn’t be too crowded. I needed to get a new watch battery and some Bath and Body works soaps. I was in and out pretty quickly.

Gabby and Blanca traded off at 12:30. I got lunch ready for the boys and Blanca took them outside to eat lunch. Blanca stayed until I got the boys down for naps.

Evan and Noah took good naps. I was able to nap too.

For dinner we used one of the gift certificates Evan’s classmates gave us. Morry picked up food from Natural Planet. Evan and Morry shared a pizza. I had a veggie burger and Noah ate hotdog.

After dinner the Steelers game was on. Evan and Noah watch some of it and then we put them to bed (in their separate rooms). Noah is still making some noise. Evan was throwing a fit and he’s actually downstairs right now. I think it’s half time now and Morry will try to put Evan back to bed.

Back to School

This morning Morry dropped Evan off at school. Gabby was here this morning to take care of Noah.

From 11:30-2:30 I went to a “Genetics and the Jewish Woman” symposium at the JCC. Most of the information I already knew from meeting with the genetics counselor, but there was some new information that was helpful. I was able to briefly talk with an oncologist (the one I’m going to see on Thursday) and an ovarian cancer specialist from MD Anderson. They were both amazed that I had just had a mastectomy 2 weeks ago and was there.

When I got home Blanca was at the house and the boys were sleeping. Jodie (one of the moms from playgroup and Evan’s class) brought Evan home from school. The kids at school made a poster for us and the families gave us 5 gift cards for restaurants. That was really nice.

For dinner we had a casserole that Beth, from Morry’s work, made for us. It was nice not having to worry about dinner.

Evan and Noah played for a while after dinner. They were running around being silly.

The boys are in bed now, but still playing around and making noises.

Last Day of School

Evan woke up early again and Morry got him set up in the game room before he left for work.

We were late getting to school this morning. Noah slept until about 9:30. I didn’t want to wake him up. I let him sleep until 9:30 and finally I woke him up so I could get Evan to school.

Riley came over from 10-12. Noah cried for about the first 30 minutes, but then he eventually calmed down. I did a lot of cleaning while Riley was here. It had been a while since the house was really cleaned. I cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed and mopped the whole house, dusted, … I did that all in about the 2 hours Riley was here. I was really exhausted by the time she left. Right after Riley left, Noah and I went to Evan’s school. It was Evan’s last day of school (until September), so they had a little pizza party. Noah had a great time with all the big kids. He even sat at the table with them for lunch. After lunch the kids had cupcakes and cookies. Both Evan and Noah loved the cookies. Who knows how many Evan ate.

When we got home I put Evan and Noah down for naps. Noah fell asleep pretty much right away. It started raining (finally) pretty hard and we had some thunder and lightening. Evan got scared and didn’t want to take a nap, so I let him watch TV for a little bit. Then, I tried again to put him down for a nap, but he refused. I was really tired and needed a nap so, I let him watch tv in the game room while I tried to lie down. A few minutes later Evan was in our room because he heard thunder. I asked if he wanted to come in bed, but he said no. He ended up falling asleep on the floor in our room. As soon as Evan fell asleep Noah woke up.

I brought Noah downstairs and tried to fold laundry. It took me about 4 times as long as usual because Noah kept grabbing clothes I had already folded.

Evan got up and while Evan and Noah played I got dinner ready.

Morry came home and we had corned beef and potatoes for dinner.

For dessert we went to Wendy’s for Frosties. We had 2 $1 off coupons and a $5 gift card I had won a while ago, but just got in the mail a few days ago. So, we had free dessert and still have $1something left on the card.

We just put Evan and Noah to bed and it seems to be quiet.