More pictures!

The kids playing outside

My beautiful Mom

My sister and her "man" Mike

Julie, Me, Mom, and Matt

Ryan at our UCLA appt on the 10th of Feb

We are fans for obvious reasons!

Adam reading to Ryan from Mommy's book

I love these moments!

Catching up!!! The actual date of this entry is 3-7-09

The kids jumping on the trampoline in the pouring rain!

Hello! Long time no blog...eh? I know I am sorry!! Well we had the set back of her counts going into the toilet so to speak, then after a couple of weeks they returned to above 1000 so she could return to preschool. Just in time for picture day, and to see the police dog come ;)! We had her appointment on February 10th and her counts were up to 900 so they went ahead and had me start her back on her oral chemo at 50%. She did really well and her counts jumped up high...I can't remember the exact number at this moment, but they decided to not increase the dosage due to the fact she was taking the steroids. Every time we go down to UCLA she gets the infusion of the Vincristine and she then needs to take steroids for 5 days after. Taking the steroids can cause a false increase in her counts. After the next weeks lab draws they went ahead and increased her dosage a little. This past week her counts were only at 900, therefore they did not increase her dose and there was no school for Ryan. She was pretty bummed out.

The kids at the LA Zoo

Our adventurous trip to the Pirate Dinner show!

We have had a lot going on though around here. We managed to go down to the LA Zoo with the kiddos. It was a slightly rainy day, but we really had a blast! While we were down there, I said we should go some where cool for dinner. Medieval Times came up and I said how about that Pirate Dinner show? We made a phone call and it was going to start at the exact time it would take us to get there. It was a great show....I don't think the kids ate one bite of their food they were so entertained. It was pretty cool! It all worked out perfectly! I love when that happens!

We had visitors....My Mom, my brother- Matt, my sister-Julie, and her new fiance Mike. It was for a long weekend visit and we all had a great time. This was our first time meeting Mike and we also had not seen Matt in along time so it was a much needed visit. We took the kids out to C.A.L.M. one day, played games and just hung out and enjoyed some good family time. I will post pictures later!

Ryan with the manager and the sales manager at In-Shape.

The kids enjoying the Italian Ices from the snack barRy- Note the hair...it is getting longer ;)

Mona and I (she works in the kids club and became very fond of
Ryan and Adam when we were coming daily before Ryan got sick)
A truly beautiful person!

Our local gym here where we are members did an amazing thing for our family. They decided to have a racket ball tournament and give the proceeds to our family....WOW! Very generous! They had many people sign up for the tournament and had lots of different sponsors. They did a raffle for an awesome mountain bike. They had hot dogs, icees, cookies. We decided to head down and have Ryan take a look at this event first hand. The kids and I all put on our Team Ryan shirts and headed down. We had a great time. The older kids climbed the rock wall, and more imortant than that Ryan got to go meet and thank all the wonderful people who participated in this and the ones who put it all together. We are all truly greatful to all of you... Thank You!!

Kyle before his 8th grade dance

Today March 7th is our Anniversary. We are celebrating 11 years of marriage....WOW!!!! I am a very lucky woman and am so thankful to have Matthew! I am sure we will enjoy the next 11 years together as much as we have enjoyed the past 11 years!

Tuesday the 10th is Adam's birthday. My baby is turning 3...another WOW!

Then at the end of the month we have Ryan's birthday. She will be 5 on the 30th of March. I picked up her Kindergarten registration packet last week. She is so excited!

Logan is doing great in school and in gymnastics! Such a beautiful bright girl!!

Kyle has 8th grade graduation in May, high school next year...ahhhh! He is growing so fast right now and is turning into a fine young guy (I just can't bring myself to type the word man...lol) right before our very eyes. I can not believe how fast time is going by.

As each day passes I feel more and more blessed!!!!

Tuesday the 10th is our next trip down to UCLA. It will be a longer day because it is a procedure day. She will be sedated and get her lumbar chemo, along with her Vincristine. That is Adam's birthday so Matthew is going to be here with him and do a boys birthday outing. I know Adam is excited =)! We will not have to go back for 1 month, and that visit will not be a "procedure day"! So that is good!

Thank you all for your continued prayers! We feel thankful everyday for all of the love and support everyone has given us. Love to all!

Small set back??!!

She inspires me daily!

Well, we have had a small set back...if you would call it that?! Miss Diana came to draw Ryan labs on Monday. Ryan had a low grade temp, and shortly after Diana left Ryan complained that her ear hurt. If Ryan's "counts" are high enough than we treat as any normal child...take her into the doctors and have her checked out. So, I called the office and made her an appointment and let them know I should be getting her lab results shortly. Well, Miss Diana called and said her "counts" were only 400. Not Good!! I called back the pediatricians office and Dr Shah said to bring her right in. We got there and sure enough she had an ear infection. Her temp was still only about 100.2 so we were okay to just go to the infusion center, get some IV antibiotics, and get a prescription filled for oral antibiotics. She would not have to be admitted unless her temp went up any more. Her temp did not go up, so we did avoid a hospital stay. School was obviously out of the question for the week, due to her counts only being 400, and we also canceled our Superbowl party. They also took her off her daily oral chemo meds for the week. I am not sure what dose they are going to start her off on. We were told originally that they start her off at 50% then increase it if counts stay within range (between 750-1500). The goal being to get her to be taking max dose without her counts being in the toilet. Well, after the first moth of maintenance we realized she was started off at almost 95% and her counts were doing great!! So, whether her counts went down because of the chemo, or because she was trying to fight off the infection???....we are not sure?!!! We will have her labs drawn again this Monday to see what her counts look like...hopefully they will be back up, and she can return to school?? We head back down to UCLA next Tuesday.

I have been conflicted with whether we should be sending her to school. I believe we are doing the right thing because she really wants to go, and her counts (until now) have been great! I believe that she should try to remain as "normal" as possible. Although she knows the lingo "Mom, I can't go cause I am neutropenic (the word used when her counts are below 500), right?", and she has no/little hair, she is really treated no differently than the rest of our kiddos. We have certainly been affected by Leukemia, but we refuse to let it be her life.

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!