Toilet Training Extravaganza!

Adventures in parenthood: toilet training time. Notice I did not call it by its commonly referred to name "potty". Nope, not in our household. We like big people words. No sippy cups, no pacies, no blankies. Basically nothing with an "y" at the end. So our adventure begins.

Online there is a guide to toilet training in 3 days. I thankfully didn't buy it, I just got the gist of the concepts from other people online. In the middle of day 2 and I'm pretty sure its impossible to toilet train a kid in 3 days. That being said, we've made some major headway in this short weekend. Our little runner who runs in circles around the kitchen and living room we now know is peeing during that time. Or at least needs to go really badly. All along we thought it was a funny game but in reality, pee time. I also learned that cleaning poop from non disposable training pants is disgusting. I don't know how all of you use/used cloth diapers. I about threw up earlier today. But Bryce is now telling us before he goes that he needs to sit on the toilet and is going more than a couple drops. This is progress and I'll take it.

As for the reward system...I asked my mom to send me the treats she gives Bryce when he is at her house. I found it rather ironic that she gave me "smartees" and "dum dums". So are the dum dums for when he misses and the smartees for when he has success? I'm kinda glad he prefers the smartees. Or as Bryce says "some-arties!"

Wish us luck and continued success.

Port take II

Sorry I've been so negligent of this blog. I find that when things are going really well, I don't post. If things are going really badly, I don't post. Its during the mediocre lulls of this roller coaster ride we call life that I tend to post most often. Also, if you haven't picked up on the trend, Bryce photos and videos are usually the focus of the blog when things aren't as optimistic with Shaun. But thats not always the case, he's a cute kid, I like to share that no matter what. Anyways, Shaun has had a few set backs and challenges ever since our trip to Disney. He's been in and out of the hospital for bowel obstructions and challenges with pain management. The catch 22 is the bowel obstruction hurts, so he needs pain meds but pain meds can make bowel obstructions worse making the pain worse requiring more pain meds. So after several attempts to let the bowel obstruction clear on its own (hard to do with a tumor squeezing your colon) we decided to take some action. First order of business was to get Shaun's pain under control. He is now on a continuous pain pump and he can give himself additional boluses of pain meds every 6 minutes if he needs it. This has made him A LOT more comfortable. But if created a logistical problem. He has 1 port so he could only have his pain pump or his nutrition (TPN) going at one time. TPN takes 12 hours but there was no way he could go 12 hours without pain meds. So he needed an adjustment. Yesterday, Shaun had his port replaced with a dual lumen port. This just means there are now two lines into his central blood stream. So he can do his nutrition and his pain meds at the same time. The only additional problem is when he wants to do chemo, he needs to use one of those lines, so probably he will go without TPN for those two nights.

The next issue is his bowel obstruction. The last 4 or 5 days have been really rough on Shaun and we don't know if it is solely due to the obstruction or the chemo he got last week. But he's been throwing up every couple of hours. (sorry, tmi I know). Thankfully there is a possible solution. They can put a tiny tube in his stomach that sticks out his skin that will enable the release of the stomach contents without the need of the digestive track. This will allow Shaun to eat again (in small amounts) and hopefully stop the nausea. This past weekend we had social engagements which revolved around food. Do you know how uncomfortable it is to sit at a table with everyone eating and not being able to eat? Not only does it make you hungry and want the food, you feel weird sitting there with strangers and not explaining why you can't eat. At least this is what I would feel. Hopefully, it wasn't too uncomfortable for Shaun (sorry).

So possibly next week Shaun will have this procedure done.

In other news, Bryce is amazing. He is talking a lot and showing off his imagination and creativity. He likes to sound out words and read letters but mostly he is obsessed with the cars from the cars movie (Thank you Angela for provided HOURS and HOURS of self play) and his train set. Sometimes, the cars go on the train set and he combines the two. But basically, Bryce is content to play downstairs endlessly. Beware if you come to visit though, he likes to include visitors in his play. " Papa play a little bit? Nana, play a little bit?" At least he is asking right?

Best video of Bryce

I think the video speaks for itself. We have one very talented little boy on our hands.

Fun Bryce Videos

Its been awhile since I've added videos of Bryce. So lets hope I remember how...the first one was at Navy Pier with Shaun's former student, Phillip. It was Bryce's first time playing miniature golf but he seemed to like it. Or at least he liked picking up everyone's balls and putting them in the hole. The other videos were taken tonight while Bryce was playing. He is talking a lot more and I tried to capture that. Hopefully, you can understand what he's saying :) Enjoy!

On my own

I've been in Toronto for the last few days for a conference. Its the first time I've been away from Bryce for such a long period of time (4 nights, 5 days!). I can't remember the last time I've been away from Shaun this long either. Needless to say, I miss them terribly and can't wait to give them both huge hugs!! But this week was an adventure for me. Its been a long time since I've had so little responsibility and no one else to care for but myself. It creates many mixed emotions, at first I was lonely, bored and home sick. Morning sessions for the conference started at 9am so when I woke up at 6:30 (sleeping in for me compared to normal work days) I was befuddled with what to do with all that time in the morning. I didn't have a 90 minute commute. I didn't have to feed or dress a two year old. And if I didn't feel like it, I didn't even have to go to the session at 9m but seriously, what else was I going to do? As time went on I met a few acquaintances and talked a lot of science. Listened to good talks and got caught up with the latest cutting edge stem cell research. As my circle of friends grew, I wasn't as lonely or even home sick. I actually had a lot of fun. I explored the town of Toronto, ate really good food and stayed up way past my bedtime. I was totally free for a few days. No running around with Bryce, no cleaning the house (haha like I do a lot of that), no helping Shaun with his TPN, just me. Thanks to a new Aussie friend, I had a great time relishing this freedom. But its time to go back to reality. I welcome the responsibilities of being a mom and wife and scientist. The rewards definitely out weigh the challenges. I can't wait for those big hugs! Good bye Toronto, its time for me to get back to the loves of my life.

Make the best of things

I'm writing this entry to tell everyone how proud I am of Shaun. The past couple of weeks have not been easy. When we were in Birmingham, UPS destroyed the overnight package carrying his IV nutrition, TWICE. So he had to go 3 days with no calories and minimal fluids. We are fortunate to have a very dear friend as an oncologist in Birmingham (Thanks Andres!) who could get him set up with fluids which provided enough energy for Shaun to make it home. But, unfortunately, the second half of our trip was not as good as we hoped it would be. I was fortunate to be able to visit with a lot of friends but poor Shaun was stuck in the hotel most of the time. Luckily before all this, Shaun gave one hell of a introduction for the valedictorian of Altamont's graduating class (whoo hoo Shawn!). He really is an amazing public speaker and can be quite sentimental. Anyways, due to weather in Chicago, we were delayed in coming home and we all caught colds from the recirculated air on the plane. Shaun still went to chemo on Tuesday but possibly from this cold/infection he spiked a high fever at the end of the treatment. So for precautionary measure, they kept him in the hospital over night. It seems that it was most likely as we suspected, from this virus we all got in conjunction with the chemo so he got antibiotics and sent home the next day. But as anyone who has been in the hospital can attest, it drains you. There have been painful days and tired days and nausea days and days with all three (ok thats most days) but Shaun still gets up and carries on. Yesterday, Shaun went out with Bryce and me to the splash pad and played with Bryce in the water. Even though he feels awful, getting out of the house and spending time with us helps him feel better. I'm so proud of Shaun for continuing to persevere. He may have lost his big muscles, but he is still the strongest person I know.

Pictures from Disney

We had a wonderful time in Florida. Perfect weather, minimal crowds, excellent people who helped us out and a great family adventure. I can't say Bryce's favorite part because there were so many fun times but he definitely liked meeting Mickey Mouse and playing in water every chance he could get. Shaun and I really liked Harry Potter world and was glad we went in the afternoon and missed most of the crowds. If anyone else plans on going there, my advice is not to get there at the crack of dawn and race there. Everyone does that. Go after 3pm when all the early goers are done. The wait is a lot less. If you can borrow a kid and do a child swap you only have to wait 5 minutes for the forbidden journey ride (the best part).

In a lot of the pictures he has his typical deep thinking or frowning face but I swear he had an amazing time and loved every minute. He is such a champ, he made it through 4 parks in 4 days!! Shaun deserves some credit too, 4 parks in 4 days after spending a lot of the last few months on the couch is quite the feat. I think I got grouchy and over tired more than they did. I wish I could write a book on all our fun times but I know you would much rather see pictures. here are some of my favorites. Sorry they posted out of order.