It hasn't been THAT long!

I know, I know, I am a slacker, lazy, - etc. Can I blame the month-late entry on my forgetfulness? New baby? Chemo? Well, whatever the reason, I am now giving you all an update on our lives. Bill is awesome and working all the time to support us. I am now working Mon, Wed, and every other Thurs to help a little. And I enjoy my job, the people I work with, and getting out of the house once in a while. I started radiation yesterday and have 6 weeks to go. It's like getting an xray. I'm not radioactive afterwards and do not glow, much to Bill's disappointment. I will probably be tired and get sunburn effects later on, but for now, the only irritation is the time commitment of going every single day during the week. Oh well, this is the last step of the process and I'm done!

Ryan is laughing all the time now and talks his cute baby-cooing language. We love it and do whatever we can to make him do more. He also, as you can see, is gaining weight regularly and has had no problems outgrowing his clothes. At 4 months old, he is now wearing his 6 month clothing. I find out exactly what his weight is on Thurs when he gets another round of immunizations (yuck). Two weeks ago he was 14 pounds. I can only imagine what the current number has reached. But how cute are his rolls and chub?? I can't stop kissing him and he is so huggable. I hope you enjoyed the slide show. Bill put it on the blog for me after I spent some time. . . putting it together. Here are another couple cute shots for ooo-ing and ahhh-ing.

State Fair and other cute photos!

Smiles!

More cute shoes

I don't know when life will slow down. My guess is never again, but I'm enjoying the ride. My last chemotherapy was on Thursday, which means that I feel crummy this week. But oh well, the feeling of ick only lasts a week, and all I have left is radiation. Yeah! Ryan is keeping us very busy, nothing new really, just being adorable and eating constantly. Sometimes I just think that God blessed me with not being able to breastfeed -because I don't know if I would have been able to keep up with my "little" pigglet. Seriously, he's up to around 13 pounds now- at 3 months old. Just look at the cheeks and arm rolls! He decided to grunt out a hernia on the other side. Yes, he just had surgery 2 months ago for pyloric stenosis and a hernia- but this is the other side. Anyways, more surgery :( but it should just be a one night stay. I don't know the day yet, but I'm hoping for next week. He doesn't seem to mind his little bulge, so at least we aren't dealing with crying baby in pain. In fact, Ryan smiles all the time now and coos to us. And to the ceiling fan, and to his toys--- whatever, it's super cute to hear his little voice. And an occasional giggle makes life wonderful. Oh, and he slept for 7 hours last night!! Don't worry, we still had to get up in the middle of the night- it was from 7pm -2am, but hey, it's progress.

Look at our chunky boy!!

Ryan had on this adorable outfit- bringing out his beautiful blue eyes. Can you stand the chunky cheeks?!?

And the shoes!!!

I can't believe that Ryan is 11 pounds now! He is so fun, and starting to smile and coo a little bit. We (the parents) are doing well too. :)

Hi- from all of us

Hi there! I just wanted to share a couple of adorable pictures. Ryan says hi too. And Bill too.

Look at our cutie!

So sorry to make everyone wait a lifetime for more pictures of Ryan. He is growing like crazy, making up for lost time when sick. He is now 20 inches and about 9 lbs- can you believe it!? We are still up with him every 2 hours for feeding (hungry boy) and not getting a lot of rest, but that's what it's all about now. I'm so glad he's healed and doing so well. I am tired and achy with this last round of chemo- even more than before. I think it's finally hitting me- maybe the combo of everything. But I have lots of help from family and friends to watch Ryan while I nap a little. He is wonderful and a blessing- even when he screams in the middle of the night from gas bubbles. Bill's mom, Tab and her husband Kent were up last weekend for their first visit and we had so much fun. Ryan has so many awesome family members! He is definitely well loved. We are grieving the loss of my Papa. He passed away on Saturday and will be missed terribly. He was a wonderful man of God and an amazing example of love and life.

More hospital happenings

Well, guess what! We are home from the hospital. It came as a shock to us also, that we'd have to go back so soon, but sure enough. . . It seems like we can't get enough drama in our lives, but really and truly, I'd love some boring, ho-hum, "nothing new" kind of times. Ryan, yes our sweet little guy- who is now in the 7 pound range after 4 weeks of life- decided that his body wasn't going to work correctly and ended up with a problem called pyloric stenosis. Basically, the area that connects his stomach and intestines was closed off, which meant A LOT of vomiting on our end. He had to have surgery to fix it, and while they were in there, he had a hernia fixed. Apparently Ryan's tiny little body couldn't handle the 4 days of vomiting leading up to the surgery and tried to pop out part of his intestine. Hey, at least he only had to undergo anesthesia and healing once. (so far). It feels like we should knock on wood several times a day, but we know that life sometimes contains unpleasant surprises, and are dealing. Anyways, he did great, and is healing well, and we love the not vomiting part of post-surgery life. He came home after a day and a half and we got a little sleep inbetween, so on with the crazy life of a new parent again.
Oh, and by the way, for those of you who were waiting for news on me: all of my scans were clear!!! Sorry to keep you all waiting so long. As you can see, we've been kind of busy lately, not a lot of time for computers. But yes, I am very relieved to know that my cancer is at bay. I'll finish my chemo and radiation (you never know what microscopic cancer cells are floating around) and then hopefully be in remission. I really don't know why I wouldn't be. Like I said, the scans show nothing at all, and really, I knew they wouldn't. Remember how awesome our God is? Well, I do. And all of your prayers have been heard and answered. I feel so blessed in so many ways and am humbled by the grace God gives me every day. I just hope that I'm learning the lesson that God's trying to teach me, if that's what these trials are for. Or maybe it's something completely not about me at all. Ah, too much to ponder with so little sleep. Anyways, I think I'll just rely on God some more and trust that His plans are greater than I could ever know. AKA= peace that passes understanding. :)