~A Rita Report~

Finn and I had a very nice visit home this past weekend. Rita's white blood cell count was up and she was feeling pretty good. She had enough energy to get her VERY ACTIVE grandson dressed and even helped to wrestle him into submission in order to change his diaper a few times.

It seems that when Rita was not feeling well last week, her white blood cell count was 2. Yep, that's right she had 2 lonely little white blood cells floating around trying to keep her upright. When we were home however she had 17,000. I guess she should have 15,000 normally so, she had a little extra spunk....we don't know how this happened but we're certainly NOT questioning a thing!

SO, there's your Rita report for this week. Now, go check your breasts...it's October you know =)

We Came, We Saw, We Walked...

What a busy weekend! A whirlwind of hanging with Rita, performing a "trading spaces" on my parents bathroom, and the "Making Strides" walk. Phew! It was a busy, emotional, and rewarding weekend.

Thanks to all that donated...you certainly were in our thoughts and with us on the walk. You truly were honorary Cha-Chas. Special thanks to the Cha-Chas for raising our outstanding and not to mention our goal busting $3,000. Enjoy some of the pictures from the weekend~

~The Cha-Chas~

The Cha-Chas are on the move! We have signed up to walk in the Making Strides Walk on September 30th. Our team page is all set up and we are accepting donations.

So many of your friends and family have already signed up to walk the walk with us and others have generously donated to the fight the fight http://makingstrides.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=pfind&fr_id=3401. We are so blessed to have so many people rally around Rita at this time...

As for the "Rita Report"...she had her second treatment yesterday and the portacath worked (phew!). The results of a test came back to show that her cancer was not an aggressive type (phew again!). Finally some good news!

She was home resting comfortably when we spoke last evening. As we all are, she's taking one day at a time. Two (treatments) down, 6 more to go.

Good News!!!!

My Sister "Aunt Heathie" is engaged to "Fairy Godfather Joe"

Joe proposed to my sister at our house after Finn's birthday party...it was really sweet and just perfect. Joe did a great job and they are very, very happy. So, with that said, we've added another ticker up top to count down the days until the "big day".

~Happy Times~

This entry is certainly one that I NEVER thought I would have to make....

It is with the permission of my mom, Rita, that I inform you that she's beginning her fight against Breast Cancer today. Just recently she was diagnosed with the disease and it is today (right at this very moment) that she begins her treatment.

Her doctors have designed a plan of attack that involves Chemotherapy and eventually a procedure to surgically remove the lump. There are no words that can describe the initial phone calls and the follow up conversations held between my brother and sisters & I. We have been knocked down to our knees but it is now that we stand up and help our mom with her fight.

I write this today, I imagine as catharsis, but mainly with the hope that the more people who know about this...the more positive thoughts and prayers will be sent to my mother. I do believe everything happens for a reason but more importantly, I know that POSITIVE THOUGHTS = POSITIVE RESULTS.

Finn is officially 1!!!

Finn is 1~How EXCITING! The little guy was fortunate enough to celebrate this milestone in both "hometowns". Below is the "bingo" birthday and above is the big bash we threw at our house.

We had such a nice time and couldn't have asked for better celebrations. Thanks to everyone for the birthday wishes. It's so nice to see how much Finn is truly loved by his family and friends.

Side note: Finn just went to his 1 year doctor's appointment and he currently is weighing in at a whopping 20.0 lbs and is a long 31 inches. He's on the gangly side as Doctor Laurie puts it =)

We're baaaaaack...

We have just returned from a GREAT vacation in Cape May, NJ. A good time was had by all! We relaxed on the beach during the day and relaxed on the veranda at night~

If you look real hard in a couple of the pictures...you'll notice things like: Heather sneaking in/out of the pool after hours and some dolphins swimming up and down the water right in front of us (this happened every day).

While Brad and I were vacationing with Heather and Joe, Finn was able to spend some quality time at Camp Andrew...Grandma and Grandpa thoroughly enjoyed the little guy. It was much more difficult leaving Finn behind then expected and next year I think we're going to have a much larger group heading down to NJ!

What a great trip...

For those of you who check out our Blog...and are in the area

(or at least able to make the trip)

Finn's Birthday Party

August 25, 3 pm

Our house

WOW!~ Where has the time gone?

Well, it has certainly be some time since we've last posted. It never fails...we head into summer thinking "okay, this summer we are not going to be running around." As you all know how summers go, fat chance of relaxing.

So far, it's been a great season. Finn is growing up so fast. He's got six teeth and is on the verge of walking. With that said, he's all over the place crawling (especially the stairs). He did get his first shiner when he cut it too short on our step coming in the kitchen. I felt awful but I also know it's probably not the last scrape/bruise he's going to get.

Since it's been so long...I am including a couple slide shows so you all can see what we've been up to. The first is 4th of July. We were at my parents for a bit and had a great time. The next is a few pictures of Finn and I spending time with some very good friends of ours...Megan and Huey. Finn poured his first beer on that visit to Dada's work =) (Side note: It's not a "normal occurance" to see Finn sitting at the bar-it was only because Brad was working this particular afternoon.) The last slide is from today. With Finn's teething, he's been running a bit of a temp. recently and hasn't been feeling all that well. So, we thought let's get out of the house and introduce him to some new things. We went for a hike. He seemed to really enjoy himself (for the most part).

Can't wait to see you all and hope it's soon! Enjoy

I AM SUCH A BIG BOY!!

I went to my first baseball game on Father's Day; I love to eat all by myself and I am also getting around on the ground using my very own "army crawl".

IT' S SUMMERTIME~

Well the weather has been great and it's time to party! Finn has been enjoying the many different pleasantries that come with SUMMER~ He had his first introduction to WATERMELON when we were home a week ago. It was messy but he sure did love it! As always with the nice weather comes visits to the beach. When we are not hanging at the beach we like to go to the park and play with our bubbles!