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Ok, both kids were great today…the big news of the day for us is that Brad and I got to go on a date, yes, a date!  Gerry and Linda, our neighbors, came over this afternoon so we could actually go out and have a late lunch without our kids.  We are so thankful to them…Brad and I haven’t had a moment to ourselves since October when we were in Korea.  Things have been crazy here since then…bringing Benjamin home was quite a transition, and now Allyson’s leukemia…We got to enjoy a wonderful steak at Annie Gunns, one our of favorite restaurants.  Not only was the food good, but the company was great as well…it was a much needed outing for Brad and I.

Allyson is becoming a bit more mobile every day.  She still cannot walk, but she cruises furniture and tries to take steps every once in a while.  You can tell her legs just don’t have anything in them.  She tried to walk last night, but her legs buckled from under her and she feel flat on the carpet.  She was so upset…so was I…seeing my baby face down on the carpet like that really tugged at my heartstrings…She is so resilient though…After a good cry, she was off to play again.

Benjamin is fun to put to bed now…Ok, not because we’re putting him in bed…He’s so cute when you wrap him up in his woobies to put him to sleep.  He says over and over again in this little baby boy voice, “Night, night.” -  When we put him in his bed, he just rolls over, wraps himself up, and goes to sleep.

Speaking of sleep…I’m off to get some…

Today was a good day. I got to sleep until 9am, which means that it is my turn to get up with the kids tomorrow and let Lisa try to get some extra sleep. Today was the most active that Allyson has been since everything started. She crawled, cruised, and walked! She pulled herself up at the Nilo table and built two Lego towers (which Benjamin promptly destroyed, he is the Monkey Man).

The weather was just nice enough for us to get out of the house and run two errands. At first Allyson did not want to go but once we got in the car and headed in the opposite direction of the hospital she was very happy. She sang several backyardigan songs while we drove to Target and Shop & Save (and those two places are our exctiment). Just being able to get Allyson out of the house makes a big difference for her and it showed this evening.

We feed the kids and Lisa and I were able to have a nice dinner (sitting on the couch while they played).  Benjamin only had one nap today so he was tired and in bed by 7:15. Allyson decided to get a second wind and crawled over to her toy storage area and play until 8:30. Lisa and I were excited just to she her play with toys that she had not been able to get to for over a month.

Until tomorrow…

All in all, a good day.  Allyson had one of her best days in a while!  We took Benjamin to Tita’s this morning…no crying when he was dropped off!  Ally had an appointment at 11:00, so we were off to Dr. Rob’s office soon after we dropped Benjamin off.  - She was really good…Nurse Jamie (or is it Jaime…I can never remember) accessed her right away.  We learned from last time that we should let her relax before trying to get blood.  That was the plan for today except blood flowed freely from her port today…we were happy about that!  We waited for a bit to get the counts back…all is well - counts were good, so we could go home!  That was the least amount of time we’ve been there (an hour and a half)!  YIPPIE!

Allyson is more like herself than she has been.  I think it has to be because she hasn’t had the major amounts of chemo being pumped through her little body like she had in the first 28 days of this treatment.  Right now, she’s only getting one dose of chemo (a crushed up pill we give her in the evenings)  and that is all.  It doesn’t seem to bother her.  Dr. Rob said some kiddos feel sick when they wake up in the morning, but she seem to be doing ok with it. - She’s still not walking, although she’s definitely more mobile.  She crawls around so much more now than she has since this all started.

Next week Friday starts a new chemotherapy drug…a nurse has to come access her Thursday night, fully hydrate her over night (which means she’ll need an IV backpack) so she is prepared for the chemo the next day.  This treatment is a little more involved…more info on that next week…

Benjamin did not have a good nap this afternoon at Tita’s.  He wasn’t too grumpy this evening though.  He’s thrown more toys down the stairwell…I am waiting for something huge to be chucked down the stairs and then go through the wall (he will truly be Brad’s son at that point since Brad rode a Tonka truck down the stairs at his house when he was little and put a hole in the wall…).  - He is drooling something fierce!  The molars must be working their way to the surface now.  It won’t be long and he’ll have a mouth full of teeth!

In a word, ICE!  Sleet and freezing rain came down all day today.  Brad took Benjamin to Tita’s this morning and that took him 3o minutes (usually a five minute drive).  Thankfully, he turned right around and came home. Unfortunately, we are not finished with this mess yet.  Sleet and snow is supposed to start again tomorrow at 4:00 in the morning and continue through two in the afternoon.  Most school districts are closed tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow, we are supposed to take Allyson back to the doc for blood counts.  Her hemoglobin is down and they want to check that.  If it is low enough, she’ll need a transfusion (a long day).  If the roads are too bad, we can take her in on Saturday.

No fever today for Allyson.  We checked her periodically throughout the day…she calls it “getting her numbers”.  Our thermometer is digital and changes colors depending on the severity of the fever.  She likes to guess what color she’s going to get;-).  She didn’t eat much today, but if we’d let her eat crackers all day, she probably would.  I don’t think she has much of an appetite because of this virus.  — We played games galore today as well as, hold onto your hats…stickers, yes, stickers!  She still loves the Wii, so we played several games for her this evening too.  (Oh, the things we must do to make our children happy;-)

Benjamin had a good day today.  Brad picked him back up from Tita’s at 11:00 because we were afraid the road were going to be too bad.  Benjamin watched Brad from the dining room window has he shoveled the driveway.  It was really cute. He was tired this afternoon but didn’t really take a nap.  Part of the problem is this…his new thing now is to throw his woobies (his blankets) out of the bed and then whine because he’s done that.  Well, he threw those out of his bed during his nap, and he needed to be changed (in a big way) and he was none too thrilled about that…He really is beginning to say words now and we’re so excited.  Every time he says a word, we both look at each other and say, “Hey, did you hear that?”

I hope Ally rests well this evening.  She still sounds “gunky”.

Excitement for the day…Allyson spiked a fever of 102, so we had to bring her in to see Dr. Bob (Dr. Rob has Wednesday off).  They ran blood tests to see if she’s got a bacterial infection.  Once again, our girl had an amazing ability to tense up and not allow blood to flow out of her port.  That complicates things since they MUST have blood to run the tests, duh.  We put her in her stroller and let her relax and watch The Backyardigans.  The blood started flowing then, thankfully.  The counts came back ok which means she probably has a viral infection.  Dr. Brad and Dr. Lisa believe she probably has RSV, lovingly given to her by her brother.  We need to watch her carefully tonight and over the next few days.  Dr. Bob wants us to call tomorrow to let him know how she’s doing.

Benjamin had another good day at Tita’s.  He’s such a big boy!  Tita was kind enough to watch Benjamin this evening until we could get there to pick him up…she even fed him dinner for us.  WE LOVE TITA!  She is so good to our kids and to us.

Oh, before all the excitement this afternoon, Allyson and Brad had a good day.  They played LOTS of games.