Ally is doing well.  She continues with her chemo treatments and is doing  very well.  She is the “star of the week” this coming week at school.  We spent some time this evening making her poster.  I printed tons of pictures and put them on a poster.  She helped me glue stars onto sticks to decorate the poster.  Of course, we had to make it fancy, so she glued  some jewels on the big star where she printed her name.

Halloween is now over, much to Ally’s dismay.  We attended lots of Halloween event this year…the Friends of Kids with Cancer party…the kids had a blast - Ally even got to pet a baby camel and a 15 food python - Benjamin loved “fishing” for treats.  The next weekend, we went to the pumpkin patch.  Benjamin ran all around the field looking for his pumpkin.  Ally got to ride a pony for the first time.  She was thrilled (and as you can imagine, so were Brad and I…we thought she’d freak out, but she LOVED it!!)!  — The weekend after that, we went to BOO at the Zoo for a bit.  It was the first Saturday we didn’t have to do chemo, so we went.  (Ally’s chemo was the day before…another lumbar puncture and chemo.)  The kids absolutely love the zoo.

This past weekend was actually Halloween.  Thanks to his cousin, Blake, Benjamin had another Halloween costume this year.  He went as Batman (minus the hood…he wanted nothing to do with it).  This is the first Halloween he was able to trick or treat for real.  Once he realized he was getting candy, he was all over it!  (He’s never even really eaten candy, but he knows it is something good!) Ally was a witch.  She looked adorable!  She kept saying she was wearing a beautiful dress ;-).  The weather was gorgeous, so Brad was able to take them both out for trick or treating.  He loaded both kids in the wagon and stopped by the houses on our side of the circle.  Ally would run up to the door, Benjamin not far behind.  Brad would ring the doorbell, and the kids would say, “Trick or Treat!”  Brad was each time they thanked the neighbors…good kids!!  It was so cute watching them go from house to house.  They were all excited!  Soon, Ally was “all done”,  so they all returned to our house where we sat on the porch and passed out our candy.  Benjamin liked to put candy in the bags of the trick or treaters.  — Ally asked to go trick or treating on Saturday and Sunday.  She hasn’t quite realized that Halloween only comes around once a year.

Aside from Halloween, the kids are doing well.  Ally sounds a bit “gunky” right now, but Dr. Bob checked her Saturday and said her lungs are clear.  This is par for the course this time of year for little Ally Pally.  Benjamin is able to take his shirts off now.  On any given day, when I go into his room in the morning, he’ll have at least one arm out of his pajama top.  The other day, I had him in pj’s that zipped up the front.  When I went into his room, he had them all the way unzipped.  That is his big “trick now”…unzipping his zippers.

Benjamin is talking so much now.  I know, I always say that, but it’s true.  You can sort of converse with him now.  When I ask him questions, he will answer in a few words.  The other day, he was playing ball in the tub.  He tried to make a basket, but missed.  He looked at me and said, “Mommy, I missed!”  — He is feeding himself now.  He sits in his chair and feeds himself with both a fork and a spoon.  Sometimes he gets a little messy with the spoon, but not too messy.  He won’t even let me feed him anymore.  He grabs at the spoon and does it himself.  — He continues to eat, eat, eat!  You can’t imagine how much this boy can eat! — He LOVES to play baseball.  He picks up anything that he can use as a bat, holds up a ball and hits it.  He’s actually pretty good!

Ally is doing well.  She had trouble breathing the other night.  She came in our room around 11:30, gasping for breath.  We ran her into the bathroom to give her a breathing treatment that helped only a bit.  We ran the shower for ten minutes to get some good steam going.  That didn’t help much.  We tried to give her an oral steroid, but she threw it up.  Dr. Rob sent us to the Emergency Room.  Brad and Ally were there for about two hours.  They ended up giving her a steroid and sent us home…diagnosis was croup (she had not other symptoms though).  We both stayed home Tuesday.  (I lost my voice and had a bad cough.  I stayed home Wednesday as well.)

Friends of Kids with Cancer had their annual Halloween party at a farm near our house.  We all went and had a blast!  The kids had so much fun.  There was a petting zoo, so they got to pet a baby camel, a 75 year old tortoise, a miniature pony, goats, and Ally even got to pet a 15 foot python!  There was a cake-walk…Ally won a cake.  Both got to go “fishing”…they would hold a fishing pole and put the line behind a sheet where they’d “fish” for prizes.  Ally caught bubbles, and Ben caught a stuffed animal.  Each of them got to paint a pumpkin, and make sand art.  In the middle of the field, there were several beanbag games…we played there for a while too.  Benjamin had his first snow cone, a blue one.  So did Ally (hers was minus the syrup - no ingredient list so we didn’t know what was in it…she ate ice, but she thought it was a white snow cone).  - Besides camp, this was the first event we got to attend as a family where Ally was feeling well.  We had such a good time!!  We were wiped out when we got home, so we all took a two hour nap!

Let’s start with Benjamin…Earlier this week, I went in to get him in the morning, and he had his pajama top off and he’d thrown it out of his crib. The next day, I came in and he’d gotten into the drawer under his crib and taken out the blankets in it and thrown those all over the floor (while still in his crib mind you). — His favorite saying right now is, “I need _____.” Usually, he says I need some sort of food. He’s always telling me to “wait” when he doesn’t get his way.– He can now climb the ramp and the slide on our swingset without any help.

Ally is doing well. She’s just like the old Ally these days, and it is awesome! I talked to her teacher earlier this week, and she’s doing really well. They are working on getting her to talk more in big class settings. If you know Allyson, you may be surprised to know she tends to be a bit quiet at school. She’s such a chatter box outside of school! The teachers are really working with her and developing some positive strategies to help her gain confidence in front of the class. - She’s made some new friends in her new daycare room as well.

Brad and I left both kids with a babysitter for the first time, ever. Sara, a college student that works at Ally’s school, came to watch the kids while we went to dinner for Brad’s birthday. Sara is so good with the kids at school, we were hoping our kids would do well.  They were great! Sarah kept them busy playing all night, and she said they were awesome! We were thrilled!! It was so nice to have a night out (the first since our anniversary back in June).

Ally seems to be doing  well at school this year.  She loves her new teacher and talks about what she does in the classroom all the time.  Apparently, she gets to use Backyardigans stickers for something…I hear about that all the time.  She must be learning new songs as well…she sings things I’ve never heard before.  Ally is working on tracing the letters of her name.  She knows how to spell it, but we’re still working on writing it.

Benjamin is doing so well.  I was watching him play with Allyson today.  He just follows her around and mimics what she’s doing…it’s a trip!  He gets so excited in the morning when he sees her.   (Ally can’t wait to go wake him up in the morning.)  — He’s talking up a storm as well.  His favorite line, “I need cracker!”

Ally continues to get chemo once a week.  She’s tolerating it very well.  The doses are less than what she’s used to getting, but she’s getting two different ones each time.  Her hair is growing back.  It is soooo soft!  Brad actually combed her hair when she got out of the tub last night…there’s just enough to get a comb through now.

Our family got to go to Camp Sunrise at Trout Lodge for the entire Labor Day weekend.  The American Cancer Society sponsors families of children with cancer and sends them to camp for the weekend.  A doctor and several nurses are there as well, just in case.  The whole purpose of the camp is to let kids with cancer be kids, and let families in similar situations be together.

We had a ball!  We arrived at Trout Lodge late Friday night, and we were on the go the entire time.  While we were there, we did so many different things.  One of the favorites was feeding this fish.  The fish were HUGE!  We would go to the end of the deck and throw food to them.  Ally would throw a handful at a time.  Benjamin would throw just one piece at a time.  We played Blazing Paddles (ping pong to you and me) - I would put Ally on the table and help her hit the ball back to Brad.  Benjamin was content to hold the paddle and sit and watch while lounging in the stroller.  There’s a playgound…lots of swinging and teeter tottering - a huge hit!  The camp has an arts and crafts center.  We spent about a hour and a half there.  The kids both painted a ceramic piece, colored/glittered/painted on paper, and made tie-dye T-shirts (my favorite).  Ally was the first to make her shirt (with some help from daddy).  Benjamin kept saying, “I squeeze!  I squeeze!” - He wanted to squeeze paint onto a T-shirt too, so we let him make one also.  We did LOTS of walking around the grounds…Ally went on a pontoon boat ride.  She liked it until a group of older kids threw water balloons at the boat.  That scared her, so she cried the rest of the ride.  — They both loved the “camp room”.  We all stayed together in the lodge/hotel room.  It actually worked out really well.  Benjamin slept in the pack-n-play, and Ally slept on a mattress on the floor beside our bed.

We all had a great time together as a family!  Ally keeps saying she wants to go to camp again.  Hopefully we get another opportunity!

Tomorrow is a BIG day in the history of our family. Benjamin’s adoption finalization is tomorrow afternoon at 1:30. He will become a member of our family in every sense of the word after the court hearing tomorrow. He also becomes a citizen of the United States of America! (We want him to continue to learn about his Korean heritage as he grows up though. We feel it is important for him to know that part of his life as well.) We are so excited that this day has finally come. We are all going to spend the day together to celebrate as a family!

Here’s to Benjamin Ferrol Seung Yoon Verdigets!!

Benjamin and Allyson really love each other.  It is so cute to see how excited they are to see each other first thing in the morning, and when I pick them up in the afternoon.  Benjamin follows her around, watching everything she does.  Allyson takes care of him - checks his “ouchie” everyday (a little scratch on his face)…carrying his drink outside for him…making sure he has a book when he’s in the car…requesting his favorite song on the CD…making sure he has his woobies to sleep with at night.

It is a good night in the Verdigets’ household.

She’s worn out though. Tonight, once she got unhooked and de-accessed, we bathed her. After her bath, she climbed right into her bed. I crawled up next to her; she snuggled right in and fell asleep. I was sitting there watching her sleep thinking, you know, there’s nothing like snuggling up next to your mommy. A mom is someone that always makes things better…makes you feel safe and comfortable. All I could think about was how amazing it is that I can do that for her…

We wait for the results from Ally’s procedures…Dr. Bob said we’d probably hear tomorrow afternoon. I can’t imagine we’ll hear anything but good news. She’s done so well with her treatment…we’ve been so vigilant with her medications…we’ve tried so hard to keep her healthy…we’ll hear good news, I just know it.

The neighbors brought over their new puppies yesterday.  Mac, one of the puppies, absolutely LOVED Benjamin.  It was so cute.  Mac just went crazy when he saw Benjamin, and he kept giving him little puppy kisses.  Mac’s tail just wagged and wagged when Benjamin would come up to him and pet him.  Ben did such a good job of being gentle.

Before I put this post to rest, I must say this…Go USA!! I’m a huge Olympics junkie, and I just watched the men’s US swim team win the gold medal.  They were not expected to win at all.  Too cool!