My Baby is Growing up!

Well this week was a momentous one for our family. Scott and I worked together to potty train Kyler and he was potty trained in just a few days!! He has been our easiest child to train..so that is a blessing!

I'm so happy to be out of the 'diapers' stage and yet a bit sad too. It makes me realize that I don't have a baby anymore and that I'm moving out of that stage of my life. I will miss the baby years but I look forward to enjoying my children as they grow up!

Yeah for Kyler!! We are so proud of you for being such a big boy!

Catching up..

I've been behind on blogging lately. Here is a darling photo of Cam and Kyler wearing their 'hands free devices' that Cameron made out of pipe cleaners. Isn't that so funny?? What a tech age we live in!

Kaylie did a wonderful job on her science fair project. Here she is at Open House at school showing off her awesome display board!

Last week Scott went with some friends to the indoor surfing place...extreme sports or something like that. He tried the surf simulator and said it was fun, but its actually more like skateboarding than surfing. He said the waves are coming at you whereas with surfing they are going away from you. He still had a great time and Cameron enjoyed going with Dad to watch!

Swim Meet

This weekend Scott competed in a swim meet at Cal Fit. I was at T-ball with Dallyn so I didn't get to go but the older kids went and took photos and cheered their Dad on.

Here's Scott after the fact with all his many ribbons....most of them first place of course. Our number ONE swimmer!

More Roommate Photos

Here are some more photos from our roommate week together. We went up and walked the grounds of the Sacramento temple..here is Teresa and I.

Here's Angie and Teresa in front of the fountain...

Each night we had a date with the Hot Tub..I think we turned into prunes each night, we sat in there so long yakking until the wee hours of the morning. It was so fun!!

College Days

This past week I've had a great time catching up with my BYU college roomies!! It's been 6 years since we've seen each other, so we had a lot to catch up on!
Even though we haven't lived together in about 12 years (wow, we are old!), it was just like the old days. Except for some reason our life situations are a little different and our problems are a little greater!! Little did we know that the struggles of college exams would seem simple compared to life's real problems!

It was fun to have them stay with me this past week! I'm so grateful for their friendship! Now we need to get together more often than every 6 years ladies!!

Yes, its STILL falling out!

Ok, so the update on my hair is that it is still falling out, each day by the handfuls. This past week I went to see my Oncologist and among other things we discussed my hair loss. He mentioned to me that hair loss is a possible side effect of steroids. Considering the fact that I had about EVERY side effect known to man while on steroids, this would make sense!!

It's just insane to me, each day I clean more and more hair out of my shower and out of my brush. When will it stop? I cringe every time I shampoo my hair, HOPING that it will be the end, but to no avail.

So there you have it...I'm hoping for nice, spring days without any wind..otherwise I'm in BIG trouble!

Happy Hair Days everyone!

MRI #4

Well, I went to my Neurosurgeon Apt. yesterday and have good news!! My tumor is continuing to SHRINK and there are NO NEW tumors to report! Yeahoo! This is great news!!

My surgeon said that my tumor is actually ahead of the game in that it has already started to involute, or cave in on itself. I don't have the photos to post, but it looks more like a big raisin whereas before it was more round. There is still a blood supply and cancerous cells living in the tumor but its moving in the right direction, so that is the great news.

I learned that I have radiation induced swelling in my brain as well, and I was surprised to see how much swelling I have. My Dr. said it is less than in January, however I was SO SICK at that apt. that I don't remember much. As long as the swelling continues to go down I won't have to go back on steroids again..so that is my plan--goodbye swelling! No more drugs for me.

So all in all it was a great report and Scott and I feel very happy with the results! =) Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers! =)

What is it like going bald??

Ok, not to be rude..but I will not be sympathetic to you if you complain to me about having a 'bad hair day'. Don't even go there with me!! =) I have to say that going bald trumps any bad hair day you could tell me about!!

So what is happening to me?? I keep asking myself this same thing. Here's the story:

At the time of my surgery I was told I would lose hair about the size of a golf ball, on the back of my head where my Gamma Knife Radiation Surgery was. The radiation is so strong it would kill the hair cells. They said the hair sometimes grows back. I'm holding onto the sometimes part!!

So on Dec 26th, three weeks after surgery I lost a bunch of hair. It took about three days and I had a big bald spot on my head, about twice as big as they had prepared me for. That wasn't good news..but I tried to stay optimistic and I could cover it up easily with my crazy curls!

Ok, so fast forward two months later..the end of Feb..around the 25th, all of a sudden I'm losing HANDFULS of hair in the shower. This is de ja vu from Nov of 2007. Could this be happening all over again? I can't handle hair loss again..its just too much!

Well, the hair kept coming out, little bits every day for about 2 weeks. Then I went CRAZY as every day it got harder and harder to cover up the bald spot. Now my hair is so thin that I can't completely cover it up anymore.

I'm losing hair across my head in the same spot as my surgery as well as the hair above my surgery area...hence the thin hair on top! So..I am not a happy camper about this. My bald spot is twice as big as it was in Dec and growing!

Friday I was STRESSED OUT about this so I called my Neurosurgeon. They said that this size of baldness is not normal. So the Radiation Oncologist pulled up my surgery scans and they realized that because my tumor was so close to the surface, that I actually had a lot of SKIN that was radiated in strong amounts. As a result of this I will lose much more hair than the golf ball size they anticipated! If my tumor had been deep, I would have had hardly any hair loss or none at all! (Can I say not fair?..No, I'm grateful my tumor wasn't deep)

Ahhhhhhhhh!! What do I say to this? They told me that hair loss usually peaks at 1 1/2 months and starts regrowth in most situations at 3 months. I told them I was a little backwards since mine is FALLING OUT at three months instead of growing back.

He said my body is just reacting on its own timetable and other than psychological stress of being bald, I should come out of this with little damage in the end! Ok, so if I was completely bald I could wear a wig. I have a few great ones of those!! But, what does a person do with a huge bald spot like this???

And can I feel sorry for myself for a minute?? Ok, so guess what? My hair has been growing since Feb of 2008 and this is as long as it is. SOO..this means that it will take till Feb 2010 for my bald spot to be as long as my hair is now. Ahhh....ok, I'm done feeling sorry for myself. At least it will hopefully grow back.

Now may I encourage you to not complain about bad hair days anymore and to be grateful that when you walk outside on a windy day that you don't have to worry about holding your hand over your head so your BALDNESS doesn't show!!

Tumor Update..

I figure its time I update about the status of my lovely brain tumor. =) Today was my fourth MRI and I have to say I'm getting a lot more brave about the claustrophobia thing. Today I was more stressed about the injection of contrast than I was about the MRI!!

So, my MRI today marks three months since my Gamma Knife Surgery. I'll get the results Friday when I meet with my Neurosurgeon so I'll update the blog then with more details. For now we are staying optimistic that my tumor is dramatically shrinking and that there are no more new tumors!!! Let's keep hoping for the best!!

Have a great week and I'll post more on Friday!
Heidi =)

Our Fireball Boy

I just think we have the cutest T-ball player ever!! Dallyn is playing on a parks and rec t-ball team this year and today was his first game. He did really well and enjoyed running--well actually skipping--to the bases!! Isn't he so cute??

Up to bat--the ball is flying! =)

Running the bases....he did a great job and we all enjoyed watching him play!

The Beach House

Thanks to the generosity of some friends, we spent 2 nights at a great Beach House on Ocean Ave in Carmel-By-The-Sea. It was a great little get-away..perfect since the kids were out of school and Scott is off work.

Kyler loved 'our beach house' as he called it. I don't think he realizes that it isn't OUR house!! Don't we wish?? =)

Here's the kids on the front porch..

And a view of the Beach House from the beach. Yes, I'm standing on sand and the kids are waving at me from the balcony! Talk about dropping out your front door and being on the beach. It doesn't get any closer than this!!

This is the view from the balcony over the garage...it's hard to see with how cloudy it was, but the ocean is just beautiful!! =)

The 17 Mile Drive

We took a drive along the 17 mile drive in Carmel & Pebble Beach, CA and enjoyed the views along the way. There are some amazing homes up there..wow..and some ridiculous mansions as well.

Here is a baby seal Scott got a photo of. He was up on the beach, whereas all the other seals were out on the big rock!

Views of the beach just before sunset..

More ocean views...

I decided it would be great to have this view when you get up to exercise every morning...don't you think that would be motivating?

Monterey Aquarium #1

Scott and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium for the first time ever! So, of course, it was the first time our children had been there! It sure was neat!

Cameron's favorite was the penguins..aren't they cute? We got to watch them getting fed too!

I thought the kelp forests and sea otters were so neat!

WOW! Look at these jellyfish! =)

Kyler loved the touch pools...a little too much! He started dropping abalone shells on the other animals..i was stressing out!

Monterey Aquarium #2

Isn't this starfish HUGE?

I loved seeing all the beautiful fish!!

My boys in a penguin egg!

Monterey Bay Aquarium #3

I LOVE this photo...look at the Hammerhead Shark swimming right behind Kyler and he has no idea!!!

Cameron's favorite was the touch pools where he got to feel all kinds of neat animals. Bat Rays, starfish and sea urchins to name a few.

My kids are underwater! Ahh!!!!

The family at the entrance to the children's area! The aquarium was such a neat place.