Hello!!!!

Ryan in front of her "Big Dog" door

Ryan sitting at one of the tables in class

Walking to class

Miss Karen in the office (we love her)

The girls!!!

Hello all!!!! We have had a very uneventful New Year (so far)! Things have been GREAT! We went down to UCLA on January 13th and she was given the "go ahead" to start school. She was so excited and was so anxious....it was all she talked about on the way down there. So, needless to say Thursday was Ryan's official FIRST day of preschool. She was ready to say goodbye to us while we were still in the office. She had no problems the whole 3 hours of class, and she fit right in. She had her friend Payton to help her out. Payton and Ryan have known each other for a couple of years now. Max, Payton's big brother, and Logan went to preschool together, then Kindergarten, now first grade. So, we have become good friends with their family along the way.

As you can probably tell from the pictures...Ryan's hair is starting to grow back!!!! Thankfully hers is growing in laying flat, opposed to mine...STRAIGHT OUT! I can not tell yet if the color is really any different, it may be a little darker. I can not wait to see if it is curly/frizzy like her Dads and her brothers. The doctors say she may loose it again if she gets real sick for some reason, but I have faith that this will be it, and it will just keep on growing.

My poor boy!

You can barely see the bruise on his forehead,
and that was where it actually hit.

We did have our first trampoline incident...Adam did a header out of the trampoline. He was climbing out of the zipper and the other kids were still jumping and he fell forehead first right onto the concrete. We ended up in the ER having a head CT done. Thankfully everything turned out to just be soft tissue swelling. He had a horrible black eye for about two weeks. Crazy that he hit his forehead yet all the blood settled in his eye socket.

The girls baking brownies...yummy!!

On the trampoline

Kyle and Ryan (she adores her big brother)

Kyle with his Oral Language team...Great job guys...and girls=)!

Everyone else in the family has been doing great. Kyle and Logan both got straight "A's"!!! Kyle is doing Oral language again this year and got 1st place in Regional and will be advancing! I feel so lucky that he is the example there is for the younger ones. He is such a great kid and I feel truly blessed. I feel blessed to have all my kids. I, daily, think to myself that I am the luckiest woman in the world!!!

Merry Christmas ( a couple of days ago)

Ryan with her girly nails on!

Logan striking a pose

Adam with his new Cars hopper ball

The kiddos on the new Trampoline
It was freezing and they did not care!!!

Merry Christmas!!! We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, and everyone has a Wonderful (and safe) New Years! We had a wonderful Christmas...we were just missing one thing...KYLE! He went up to Washington this year for break, and we know he is having a great time, we just miss him!

Girls in their new PJs

Logan loved the socks!

Christmas Eve we did not really do much, but our usual...hang out and have Hot Chocolate, read T'was the Night Before Christmas, and put out the cookies, carrots, and milk. The kids were in bed by 7:30 because we knew we would have to be up early. Unfortunately, Matthew went on duty this year on Christmas Day, so he needed to leave Christmas morning by 7:15. We woke up the kids this year around 5:45 so that we would have time to open presents. Santa brought them all a trampoline! And just like every other year, we say we are not going to get too many presents for the kids...they have everything they need, and of course the tree ends up being surrounded with tons of presents. Later in the day we stopped off at the station to see the Daddy and the guys, then went over to Matthews parents house to have Christmas dinner. It was a great dinner and even better to be surrounded by family and friends. This year I must say we feel especially blessed. Ryan was able to be home, and was feeling well. Our future is truly BRIGHT!

Christmas party at preschool

Ryan was able to go to her preschool Christmas party on Thursday the 18th. We had a blast! It was a PJ party, so she was nice and cozy. This was the first time she had met any of her classmates. They seemed to really be accepting. She was able to participate in the book exchange and they even got a special visitor...Santa! He let her hold his bells for him while he visited with some of the other kids. She felt like the coolest kid on the block. It was great to take her out and expose her to some kids her, age and refresh her memory what it will be like to go to school, make friends, and learn from people other than mommy. I think she is excited!!

Ryan and Santa

Ryan holding Santa's bells for him!

Ryan enjoying some Christmas cookies and milk

Miss Paula and Miss Nancy
Ryan's favorite teachers!!

Tuesday December 16th

Ryan and her Grandpa

Ryan and her new baby that
has her port accessed just like Ryan

Pouty face Ryan

Ryan after her procedure...peacefully sleeping

Her counts ended up being high enough for us to go to clinic on Tuesday the 16th....1300 to be exact. So, now she is officially in maintainance!!! It was a procedure day (lumbar treatment), but thankfully my dad was in town and came down there with us. That does help to have someone there with me while she is in the procedure room. Plus he likes to come and be involved in all of this, and four ears are better than two. I expected now that she started maintainance that this was going to be a smooth road...she would go to preschool, I could go back to the gym but, after talking to the docs down there we may need to wait a while on all that. They are waiting to see how her counts balance out. The goal is to have her on the maximum dose of oral chemo with out having her couts be in the toilet. So, if her counts are good next week then on the 13th of January they will increase her dosage. After two weeks they will check her counts...if they are good then they will increase it again, so on and so forth. Until she is at the max her body can handle. They said that if her counts were decent on the 13th of January they might let her go to preschool, since it is only two days a week for three hours. They said on those days I can go to the gym....not quite yet for the gym daycare. We ended up getting home kinda late, but overall it was a good day!! Ryan did great!

Ryan and Santa
(we missed our call for all of us to see him and get a picture,
so we ran him down as he was leaving)

Kyle and Nick Swardson
(Blades of Glory, Bench Warmers, and others)

Logan and twins Rebecca and Camilla Russo from
Zack and Cody

Ryan and Allysa Milano

Our movie stars!
(minus Kyle he was in his PJs for the car ride down to UCLA)

Hello! Well, after getting out of the Hospital on Saturday we figured by Monday her counts would not be high enough for us all to attend the UCLA Christmas party Tuesday (hosted by Allysa Milano), but despite our doubts....Monday her counts had come up to 600...WOW!!! So, we were able to go and we all had a blast. There was food, games, and gifts for all the kiddos. We met Allysa Milano...she was so sweet and down to earth. She actually came down to Ryan's level and was chatting with her for a good 5 minutes before we ever even took any pictures with her.

Friday December 12th we were all able to attend Kyle's school play "A Christmas Carol". Oh, did I mention he was Scrooge?? That's right...the lead role! He did an incredible job! They all did!! It was awesome seeing him come out of the curtain during the applause at the very end!! Talk about a proud parent moment!

GRANDPA

Then Saturday we picked up a visitor....one of our favorites....GRANDPA!!! My Dad will be staying a week...YEA!!! We have had a blast with him. We actually planned this visit to just hang out around the house because we were not sure what the situation with Ryan was going to be. We have put up our tree and hung lights, and I have actually gotten to escape to do a little Christmas shopping.....finally! Hope everyone has a Merry Christmas!

I wanted to give everyone an update on the little boy Ryan Wilson that I mentioned in a previous entry. They received great news...his twin sister was a perfect bone marrow match for him. That is incredible news for him and their family. His odds at overcoming this now have greatly improved!! Thank you everyone for your continued prayers for both of our Ryans!

Long Time no Blog!!

Well Hello!!! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!! We have been very busy lately. That is my excuse for no recent entries. I wish we could say we have been out Christmas shopping, but unfortunately we have been in and out of the hospital. Fevers, Fevers, Fevers!!! Thankfully nothing ever came back on the blood cultures, yet like I have said before they have to treat her as if there is until we get the results of blood cultures back 24-48 hours later.

All my Beautiful Kiddos

Logan just a little excited about her present!

First off....Happy Birthday to my Beautiful Logan!!! She turned 7 on the 25th of November. Happy Birthday Baby!!

Ryan

Ryan at Memorial Hospital

So, lets see....the evening of Wed the 26th she began running a fever. That evening we were able to get cultures drawn and labs. The following morning, Thanksgiving morning, we were able to have her Pediatrician call in an order for IV antibiotics to a local Urgent Care. We were very thankful because that allowed us to be home for turkey day instead of in the hospital. Well...as the day progressed her fever got higher and higher, therefore landing us at Memorial hospital for the next two days....Yuck!!! While in the hospital she received more antibiotics and also got a blood transfusion. Her hemoglobin and hematocrit were low. We were able to come home on the 29th with IV antibiotics to be given twice a day by me. See....I knew I would use my medical experience again, I just didn't think it would be on my daughter.

Ryan enjoying one of her favorite treats while in the hospital
ICE CREAM!!!!

Ryan playing one of her favorite things while in the hospital...doctor.
"Okay mom ...only five more pokes"

The future Dr. Ryan Wiggins

Well, a couple days later, on the 3rd, she began running another temperature while still on the antibiotics. Her hemaglobin and hematacrit were very low again and her "counts" were really low. After her Pediatrician and the docs at UCLA talked, the end result was us driving to UCLA at 12am. That sucked!!! They were able to get her a bed (not have us sit in the ER) so we hopped in the car and hit the road. Matthew was on duty, but thankfully Kenny was not, so he was able to come over and spend the rest of the night with the kiddos. We spent the next three days there on stronger antibiotics and getting another transfusion. They took her off all the antibiotics on Friday morning and watched her for fevers. No fevers so....she was able to come home on Saturday afternoon. And no fevers so far (please say some prayers)! By the way, that was our first (and hopefully only) visit to the new hospital.....WOW! Very nice!!!

Speaking of prayers, I have a request. We were hooked up with another family from here in Bakersfield recently. They were actually down at UCLA when we were there, so I got to meet some of them. Ryan Wilson is an eighteen month old little boy who was recently diagnosed with Leukemia. I don't know if anyone remembers at the begining of our Ryan being diagnosed.... they test for a Chromosome called the Philadelphia chromosome. Well, our Ryan was negative, but Ryan Wilson's came back positive. That makes the road he will have to travel extemely rocky. He will need a bone marrow transplant, and his regimin of chemo will be tougher. Please pray for him, that one of his siblings is a match, that his family be as blessed as we have been to have the love and support around them that we have, that his little body fight this battle the way our Ryan has, triumphantly! To the right is the link to his care page for those who want to follow his journey. Warning----He is probably one of the cutest little boys you will have ever seen!!!

Thank you again to all those who are providing your thoughts, prayers, love, and support. Again we appreciate it more than you know!!!! Love to you all!

Another Head Shaving Party

Ryan and her Papa!
I love the expression!!!
The end result!!! Uncle Drew's Turn

Ryan and her Uncle Drew
Papa, Drew, and Ryan
Drew and his friend Erin with Ry

Uncle David your up!!!

Looking good!

Aunt Holly.....The Brave One

The After
Ryan and her Uncle David and Aunt Holly

All of us Baldies!!!

The day that we shaved Ryan's head not everyone was available to participate. So.....we had another head shaving party!!!! Now we are not the only baldies in town!!!!