Bummer

Will recently noticed that Lucy had a couple of new lumps along the incision from her surgery in October to remove her Mast Cell Tumor.  So we went back to the U of M oncology dept on Thursday and sure enough, her cancer is back with a vengeance.  In October they got good margins when they removed the tumor, meaning they removed the whole tumor plus some tissue to help make sure they  got everything, but MCTs are tricky.  Mast cells are actually part of the immune system, but MCTs are mast cells gone bad.  Because they are part of the immune system, the tumors can spread to other parts of the body without being attached to the obvious tumors - the oncologist called them satellite tumors.  So anyway, Lucy has 6-7 more tumors on her hip and they are behaving very aggressively - meaning they are growing very fast.  The vets actually seemed a bit shocked at how aggressive the tumors are.  We don't know if the tumors have spread to her internal organs, but we aren't going to do the invasive testing to find out either.  Surgery is not an option as they barely had room on her hip to get the original tumor out, so after carefully considering all of our options for treatment we are going to use drugs to make her comfortable.   Basically Lucy is going on hospice care I guess. Lucy seems to be doing fine - she is very perky and in fact, driving us crazy with multiple trips outside, which we discovered was to eat the suet bits the birds have left on the ground.  She gets very animated as she does what I call the Suet Dance, which if it wasn't happening every 5 minutes, would be quite entertaining.  

This picture is one of my favorites - it is taken at the lake on a cliff we have on the property.  We were down at the bottom of the cliff and she had found her way up on top of it.  She didn't seem to care that that stick was getting her.  

Because we don't know if she has any internal tumors, we don't know how long she will live.  They recently lost a patient at the U that had some MCTs and had been on the same drug treatment for a year.  So who knows.  

Happy Birthday Tom!

Today is my brother-in-law's birthday.  He is getting very old, but not as old as Will.  Here he is a couple of years ago - we were in Glenwood Springs, Colorado after my sisters and I did the Moab half marathon.  It was Cameron's (Tom's son) 1st birthday.  I don't have any other pictures of Tom on my computer.  :(

I hope you have a great birthday Tom! 

I got tagged

I opened up my sister's blog only to find that her newest post was titled - Sandy - You're It!  So, I was supposed to open up the pictures folder on my computer find the 6th folder and post the 6th picture in that folder.  I think...I better go check again...ok, yes those are the instructions, so here it is: 

This is from our trip to Hawaii with our friends Brian and Sara.  It was 4 years ago this past November.  Sara was pregnant with twins.  We had a great trip, and I sometimes find myself longing to be in Hawaii again.   I think we were all there for 7 days or so and then Will and I went to Kauai for 3 more days.  Henry was born while we were in Hawaii.  Anyway, this is me and Brian watching surfers somewhere on the north side of Maui - we took a long drive that day.  

And now, Rob - You're it!  Same instructions, now go! 

Also, Happy Birthday Clara!  Clara is one year old today.

Anders says: "You're how old?"  

Lots o' Stuff

After a quiet Christmas in Minnesota, we headed to Iowa for lots of activity.  

We celebrated Christmas at Rob, Carrie and Eleanor's house:

Anders got another hat to add to his collection (the matching mittens are still attached to the hat in this picture).

Eleanor got a fun hat from Aunt Betsy, I'm thinking Eleanor looks pretty darn cute in this hat.

  
Clara entertained us with her scooting, though in this picture she looks rather alarmed - it could be that several of us were talking to her and not one of us was her favorite person - her mom.

Anders got over stimulated (he then slept for 7 hours straight once we got him to bed).

Then we did Christmas again the next day at Bill and Kathie's house.  Here is Hoody Henry passing out some lottery tickets.  

Anders got to hang out with Uncle Rob, 

And he got to watch football with his dad.  

He watched the Hawkeyes kick some butt - Go Hawks! 

Then we tried to get the 4 cousins together for a picture.  This one cracks me up.  Eleanor had better things to do.  Betsy has a good group shot on their blog.

Yep, these guys are related.  At this point in time, I don't see any similarities that would make random people ask if they are related.  I do see some similarities between Anders and Eleanor - maybe it is just the fair skin and hair.  This is a fun picture though - I love the look on Henry's face.  

After the Iowa game, we headed to Des Moines for a short visit with my sister Sarah and her family - Mike, Zach and Drew.   I stole the next 2 pics from her blog because we didn't have our camera handy, plus Mike's new camera (oops - their new camera I mean) is probably better than ours.  

Anyway, Drew was way into Anders.  Sarah has a cute series of pictures of these two together.  They look a little more like each other. 

Here are the 3 boys together.  

We came home Friday night because I wanted to have Saturday and Sunday at home before the first day of day care.  On the way home, we saw an amazing meteorite over Ames.  It was very bright with a huge trail and it broke in two on the way down.  I remember it being green and orange, but Will thinks I am embellishing that part.  Either way, it was super cool. 

So, Anders started day care on Monday.  He is going to a Montessori 3 days a week and the other 2 days he stays home with me or Will.  They love him there - they say he is a very happy baby.  It is sad to leave him there, but I can tell the people there love what they do.

He also started sleeping in his crib on Friday night.  It seems to be going well, though the act of going upstairs to him is really waking me up - now instead of laying in bed listening to Will, Lucy and Anders snoring, I get to lay in bed listening to Will and Lucy snoring and Anders and the fish tank making noise over the monitor. I should actually go to bed now...

Anders also had his 4 month appointment this week.  He is doing well.  He is very strong and holds his head up quite well and really likes to stand up these days.  He is long and skinny - 25 3/4 inches long (in the 75th percentile) and only 12 lbs 1 oz (25th percentile).  The doctor isn't concerned about his weight - she says he is obviously healthy and if he wasn't getting enough nutritionally, he wouldn't be so long.  She just believes that he has a super high metabolism and that he is very active (we might be in trouble with that).  She said we can start him on rice cereal now so that he gets more calories and maybe even sleeps through the night (he has an internal alarm that goes off at 4 am regularly).  We aren't really ready to start him on solids immediately - I think we need a few weeks to get used to the crazy circus our lives have become now that we need to get to day care and work, but then I think we will consider trying the rice cereal.  He is definitely interested in other people's food! 

Christmas in Minnesota

Will and I bought our house in July 1999.  I think my family came out for Christmas that year or maybe the next, but it was the one and only Christmas we have spent here at home.   This year we stayed home and had a quiet, lazy day with Anders and Lucy.  Anders looked very cute in his Christmas outfit and SmartWool socks (our favorite infant socks - they stay on).

Here is Anders showing us his cute behind.  

Here is one of his new toys from his Colorado grandparents.  I noticed today as I dressed him that he seems to have several cow things.  I'm not complaining - it is just funny how that happens.

Every thing goes in his mouth now.

This is where he hangs out while we eat.  He smiles a lot, but when you put the camera in front of your face, it throws him off sometimes.  This little outfit is from Hannah Anderson.  We have an outlet here and there is a big part of me that wants to brave today's crowds and head up there, but I won't.  Sarah B. if you are reading this, don't be surprised if I try to rope you into going shopping in Albertville in a few weekends!  Anders spent the day smiling and talking and pooping - I think we changed 5 or 6 poopy diapers yesterday, it was crazy.  He also fought going to sleep all day until 9 pm, by then he wasn't in such a great mood.  

Oh! He is sitting in my lap as I type and just pooped!  Sometimes we call him McPooperton.

Since it was just the two of us eating dinner and since I don't eat turkey and since it is hard to find small turkeys, we decided to try something non-traditional for dinner.

Sorry if I shocked anybody with that picture.  It was actually a shock to me when it got downloaded from the camera to my computer as I didn't know this was on the card.  Will bought a live lobster Wednesday and cooked it, thankfully while I was at work.  I had successfully avoided seeing any evidence of the poor thing until now (not counting dinner).  We had a yummy meal of a lobster pasta dish from Julia Child, fresh homemade bread, salad and great wine.  It was very nice.  

After dinner, I kicked Will's butt in Scrabble with words like witty, jute, plover, dusk and booze.  They were all high scoring words and it might have been my best game ever.  We played it on this awesome rotating Scrabble game that I got from my grandparents' house.  It is very cool.

Ok, I better go change this diaper.  Except he just fell asleep in my lap, I guess the blog is boring to him.  So all you moms out there - do you wake a baby who is taking a very rare nap to change a poopy diap?  This is one of those dilemmas I have sometimes.

Hope everyone had a great day yesterday and I hope you are enjoying a white winter like we are.  Sandy

Update:  I didn't change the diaper, but instead let him sleep in my lap while I shopped at Hannah Anderson's website.  Bad Sandy!

New hat

Anders is modeling a hat I made for a friend's baby.  I'm going to have to make one of these for Anders because he looks pretty darn cute in it.  This is also his first time facing in the Moby Wrap - he loved it.  He especially liked standing in front of the mirror and smiling at me and that little person I had attached to me.  

Then and Now

We think Anders is going through a growth spurt right now.  He is going to be 16 weeks old this week.  Here are some pictures of him a few days old vs. now. 

Here he is on the ride home from the hospital vs. getting ready to go shopping on Sunday. 

His first time in one of his diapers - just trying it on for size.  And now - he is much cuter, and clasps his hands a lot.

 

He and Lucy like to watch us make dinner.  Also his hair is growing.

The week in Review

It has been a while since we have posted anything.  We've been super busy.  I was supposed to go to IA to make cookies with my sister the weekend before this past one, but wasn't able to make it.  Instead I took that Friday off anyway, and Will and I did some stuff around the house and town.  Anders had a big weekend, rolling over for the first time on Friday, but you have probably seen the video of that.

Anders napped some with his flipper slippers on.

But not for long - here is the look I was getting when I took the camera down from my eye.  

And a few minutes later I came out to the living room to discover one slipper in his hand and one on the floor.  
Here he is getting into the holiday spirit with one of his cousin Henry's fun onesies.  I love it. 

To continue on the holiday spirit angle, we made WAY too many cookies that Sunday - I wore an apron I found at my Grandpa's house for the festivities.  Here we are making some fudge, while Will mixed up quadruple batches of both Spritz and sugar cookies.  I also made 7 layer bars, which were delicious. 

I promise that I did not let the baby get too close to the stove.  

Then on Monday it was really cold, little did I know that less than a week later it would be 5 degrees colder as I left work!

This is how you stay warm when it is that cold.  

Those are my Mukluks - they are very warm.  I also have my fingerless mittens that Joyce made me under those mittens.  One of the cool things about that Monday (other than the fact that it was my sister, Sarah's birthday - happy b-day Sare!) was that there was a super cool sundog on the way to work.  One side of it was so bright it was like there were 2 suns in the sky.  Look up sun dogs on wikipedia if you don't know what they are - I had never seen one until I moved to MN.  

Things Anders likes to do.

Here is 3 1/2 minutes of stuff Anders is spending his time on these days.  This all took place yesterday, he's 101 days old today.

Drumroll please...