Update

Well, Dave is wrapping up his second round of Chemo. This time around we had friends watch the kids, and our foster son. It was a little stressful, both for me and the kids, but we made it through! We get to pick Dave up from the hospital later today. This round has made him a bit more nauseus and this time they are sending us home wtih a Nulasta shot to hopefully avoid the week long stay he had last time because of his lack of white blood cells.

So that is where we are at right now! Here are some pictures I have taken of the kids latley too! :)

Superwoman???

A friend of mine refered to me as Superwoman... I'm not so sure I agree. Dave's cancer has really thrown a wrench in things. This weekend, on Saturday, he had a bit of a fever. We took him in and good thing we did. He has an infection and has been in the hospital ever since. His white blood count is ZERO and they don't know whats wrong yet.

On top of that, just before he went in, we got a call saying our foster care license was finally approved! In that call they also asked us to take a 22 month old little boy. After some discussion, we decided to do it. So now I am like a single mom of three. We didn't expect Dave to be in the hopsital but so far, I am doing well. Maybe I am just so busy that my mind isn't on anything to do with the C word. Our foster son is doing very well though! He is adjusting well and taking to P and P quiet well.

I don't know... Superwoman? I think not. I am copeing, I am managing, I am living my life and holding myself together.... mostly... I seem to cry at the drop of a hat. Today when we got to school (for Peyton) I realized that we had forgotten her backpack and lunch in the foyer at home. As I was dropping her off she got so worried about it, it made me so upset that something I had overlooked was upsetting her. I assured her I was going straight home to get it and as I said goodbye, I got all teary. ..

I don't think Superwoman would do that....

YAY my PC SYNC!

My remote sync came in today! WOO HOO, it took like 3 weeks, I guess that is what you get for paying $8 on ebay and having it sent from China... but it works perfectly!! Peyton and I headed out to the garage.... I mean studio ;) and took some shots!

OUR STUDIO

So we have been working in the studio trying to keep our minds off other things and our hands busy. It is really coming along! I still have to paint the other three walls and baseboards white and that will be good for the mean time. Once we get a little bit of money, we will be buying two large storage cabinets and putting them where the white drapes are, and all the crap..ehhhmmm i mean, stuff that is there will be put in the cabinets. Oh, and figure out what kind of top I want for the white cabinets, something cheap or free I am hoping, I need to take a look around craigslist and freecycle. Any ideas?

List of what we have done so far...

-Clean out the Garage

-Have the floor stained, then re-stained, then fixed again...still not what I wanted it to be, but it works

- Add an air vent

- Add lighting

- Hang backdrop roll-y thingy

- Paint walls

- Paint Cabinets

Seems simple when its all laid out like that, add a 4 year old and 16 month old to the mix and it gets interesting :) Its been way fun though!! Luckily most of the stuff we used was free or really cheap. The blue paint is leftover from Parkers room, and the white is from the builder, I traded photography to get the floor done, we got some of the air vent stuff that had been discarded at a local job site. So woo hoo for that!

Welcome to MD Anderson

We heard this several times over the last two days. Welcome?? Ok, I mean I get that they want you to feel good about your stay, but really? Who wants to be welcomed to cancer land?? Anyway... we had a really busy last two days. First, we arrived at the Mays Clinic (part of MD Anderson) and we had to register. We asked how long we would be here today and once she checked she said "all day" grrrr we weren't prepared for that, we also weren't prepared for the fact that we had to be there today also. So here is what our day was like...

12 PM Arrive and Register

1 PM Meet with our nurse and Doctor, they were both a little different, but very friendly. They each took their time to make sure our questions were answered. We were told about the slew of tests we needed to take over the next two days and that our course of treatment would most likely be either one or two rounds of chemo.

2:30 PM Blood Work... we were a little late to this one, no biggie though

3:00 CT Prep

5:00 CT and Chest X-ray... this is where we waited for a long time, luckily my friend Kim came to visit me. Her husband also has cancer and he was finishing up his inpatient stay of his 3rd round of chemo, Kim has been my own personal cancer dictionary/encyclopedia through all of this... this chick has her cancer knowledge together! You can read about her and her husband's journey through cancer here....

Then we finally got to go home! My mother in law decided to take the kids over night to her house since we had to be back this morning at 9. I missed my little monkeys :( but that is part of this process I suppose....

Today we arrived at 9 am for an ultrasound...

9 am, u/s we got there a bit early and they got us in right away. The u/s only took about 15 minutes so we headed to our next appt

9:20- arrived at the MRI place, our appt wasn't until 11:30 but we hoped we could get in early. We waited about 1 1/2 hours and we finally got in!

11 am- They took us back and started Dave's IV we sat there FOREVER and finally asked if we could go get something to eat.. so we did

1:30... after waiting 2 1/2 hours in this little tiny room they took us back for his MRI... poor baby, he sat in this little tube for 45 minutes, I would have been freaking out! He was so brave!

After this we headed home... we will see what the tests say, Dave feels a little sick from all the fluids and things he has ingested or injected ... this is going to be a bumpy ride!!!

Dr's Appt

Parker had his 15 month appointment yesterday, although he is now 16 months. Peyton also had her 4 year old appt in August and I forgot I used to always update on their stats. How else will I keep track?? :)

Peyton - 4 Years
Height 40" - 55%
Weight 35 lbs 50% - Finally she is right in the middle, after 4 years of being so tiny! lol
BP 60/40

Parker 16 months
Height 32" 75%
Weight 25 lbs 55%
Head Circ. 19" 75%

My little man is getting so big!

Peyton at 15 1/2 months was 21 lbs and 31 inches :)

They both had to get shots :( Poor babies!

Just wanted to share these adorable pictures!

Peytons friend Nicole joined her at cheer on Thursday. Aren't they adorable?

Cancer, photography and life

Things have been crazy around here. With Dave being home and taking care of him and the kids, I'm defiantly working overtime!

We got the results from the pathology report from Dave's surgery, and unfortunately its not good. There are two types of cancer that it could be, seminoma and non-seminoma, seminoma can be treated by radiation and doesn't require chemo and is less aggressive.... he has non-seminoma :( The specific kind is embroynal carcinoma. He is stage 1B PT2. We have an appointment at MD Anderson next week and will know more about our course of action....

On the complete other side of the spectrum, things are taking off with my photography business. I have been busy shooting, learning and making wonderful mistakes :) I crunched a memory card with one half finished and one barley started session on them and lost the images. And this happened about 10 minuets before my first in studio session was about to start. I had to quickly put it behind me and do the shoot. Boy, I was pissed!! But, lesson learned... Pilgrim memory cards SUCK! :)

We are also in the process of converting the garage into a studio! I scored an awesome deal on some lighting and accessories and have traded photography in exchange of getting someone to stain the concrete in the garage. I will update with pictures soon!

Update

I compeltly forgot to update about Dave. We are going to the hospital for his surgery on Monday. After that they do a pathology report and we will find out which type of cancer it is and will know the route to take. We are dealing with it step by step and he is handling it very well, so that is good.

On the plus side, my photography business is taking off very well! My weekends have been filled with sessions and I've been getting referals and lots of great feedback! Here are some from a session today. He was TOO cute!!

Check out http://www.nenametcalfphotography.com/ or search Nena Metcalf Photography on Facebook!

The worst 6 letter word...

Dave was diagnosed with testicular cancer yesterday. I feel like a bomb was dropped on us. It came out of no where and now we are left here having to pick up the pieces. We have doctors appointments and things going in the next several days which will be followed most likely by surgery and chemo.

Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers during this trying time.

DISNEY WORLD 2009!

We are back from what was an extreamly magical vacation! While the 10 day trip was long, expensive and exhausting, it was worth it! Peyton surprised me by riding the Tower of Terror, Splash Mountain, and just about everything we threw at her. Parker was a trooper having a great attitude depsite the craziness, heat and all that was going on! One bad thing.... my poor beloved $250 Maui Jims were abliterated :( They fell off during Test Track at Epcot when I was reaching in to help Peyton out of the ride, the attendant moved the car to reach them and CRUNCH. :( So sad!

Disney offered a promotion for free dining during September, we took advantage of that and boy was it amazing! We got to go to so many character meals that we normally wouldn't have been able to afford. It also made it so easy to just eat in the park and not have to worry about money. I don't think a single meal was under $45, (and Parker just shared) our most expensive was Cinderella's Royal Table, inside the castle. That was great :) Cinderella, Bell, Snow White, Jasmine and Sleeping Beauty were all there. Peyton just loved it.... and Parker was quite smitten :)

Here are some of the pictures from our great trip!

New Week

Although it has only been a week since my last post, I feel like I am neglecting my blog!

Three days until Disney!! I can hardly wait, I can't imagine Peyton's anticipation...oh wait, yes I can... EVERYTHING is about Disney! There is a billboard announcing a new addition to a local hospital that has fireworks, she automatically associates that with the fireworks we will see around Cinderella's castle. Everything is disney related!

We were at the mall this weekend and hit up the Disney store, her excitement there was so high I can't imagine what it will be like when we are actually there :) I can't wait!!

I am keeping busy preparing for our trip, but I also have my final interview for the fostering homestudy tomorrow. I am a bit nervous, mostly because I don't know what to expect. Wish me luck!

I have also been busy taking pictures, pretty much of anyone or anything I can get my hands on! I want to get better and am doing whatever I can think of... and I am having alot of fun doing it.

Busy Busy Busy

Man!! Life just gets crazy sometimes! We are getting ready for our trip to Disney World, Peyton has started school and just all around craziness!

I am starting to get more into photography. This weekend I did 3 photoshoots. One for a little boy, one for a newborn baby girl and a senior picture shoot! Here are some of my favs! (There are some more senior pics posted here http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2020634&id=183202130&l=1e402fbd8f )

Peyton's First Day of Pre-K

First lets start this time two years ago. Peytons FIRST first day of school, when she was 2! We skipped prek last year so nothing there, but here we go. Its funny she picked out jean bottoms and a pink polo again. LOL

And now... my big girl!! In full fledged Pre-K! She totally didn't even care that I wasn't there, she ran into the room and I had to hunt her down for a kiss good-bye! Little stinker!

Happy Birthday to me!!

My 25th birthday was on Friday! My husband came home from work early so that we could go out. He brought me a yummy cheesecake (MY FAV!) with this adorable card. When I opened the card he read the following to me (he wrote it!!!)

"You might not receive me until mid-next week

But Beaner sure saved a bundle and that's quite a feat.

I see like an eye, not green, brown, or blue,

And I like to blink backwards, odd but its true.

I prefer to see really far and not very near,

But I am really quite fragile, so please do take care

You should know what it is, open this and you'll see,

What I'll do for your camerae and your photography"

How CUTE is he??? By the way, Beaner is a nick name I have had for him since like forever ago! Anyway, if you didn't figure it out, he got me a lens for my camera :) It should be coming soon, I can't wait :) He also printed a picture of the lens and cut it out and put it in the card :)

We also went to see Julie and Julia, which has totally made me want to start some new recipes and things that I haven't done before, so that's exciting too!

So anyway, all and all a great Birthday :)

Another Time Soda Fountain

Yesterday we headed to Another Time Soda Fountain, this really cool shake and burger place that used to be an old pharmacy. I got there a bit early to take some pictures. To see the rest go to my photography blog.

They had make your own sundaes where they brought out all the toppings and let the kids go crazy!! They sure had fun!

Another Blog...

Following Their Footprints
I have started my third blog, this one is to work on improving my photography skills. I hope that you will check it out, leave feedback and help me get better :) Thanks!!

My Little Man and Our Fostering Journey

Looking back on the last several posts I see that the majority of my pictures are of Peyton. I assume that is simply because Parker is so hard to photograph. He doesn't look when I tell him, he doesn't hold still, or smile on cue... of course its easier to take pictures of a 4 year old than a 14 month old! Alas, it certainly isn't good to have a lack of pictures of my little guy, so I took some this morning. Here are some that were my favorites!

The quality on this one isn't that great, but I love the expression on his face :)

Now, I was thinking about our fostering journey and how I haven't updated the blog as far as where we stand. Our home study caseworker was out of town so it took some time for her to get in contact with us. We have our official walk through and first meeting with her on Saturday. We are excited but nervous. Then she will come and interview the kids and me and then Dave will stop in at Catholic Charities (since it is right by his work) and do his interview there. The caseworker did say that SAHM's are the easiest since you can tackle them and the kids at the same time and she perked right up to learn Dave could just stop by - got her out of making two trips out to our house, which is about 45 minutes each way. She said that moved us up her list.

So that is how things are going with that. We hope to have all of this taken care of by the time we leave for Disney (WOO HOO September 13th!) so that we can come home and get our first placements!

Fancy Nancy Tea Party

Any girl loves being fancy sometimes. Well, we put this to the test with our Fancy Nancy Tea Party. Peyton was so excited that she wore her outfit to Academy yesterday after she finished picking it out!

Peyton Turns FOUR!!!

My little baby isn't so little anymore :( She is officially a "preschooler"!!! I don't know why, but 4 just seems so much older than 3, much more than a year. We have been so excited planning and preparing for her big Tinkerbell birthday bash and it turned out wonderfully! Including our family we had about 35 people. I can't believe we all fit in our house :)

A fantastaic friend of mine Chryshelle Spurgeon took pictures for me to celebrate this monumental day! Be sure to check out her website!

So onto the pictures (and there are still more to come!)






















I did take two of her to send to a friend that had to leave early and another who made 2 shirts for Peyton, I wanted her to be able to see them on!

Thanks Araceli and Bailey!!

Thanks Lee, Lacey and Brooklyn!!

Thanks Aunt Lisa for my Oregon Shirt!! Woo hoo Go Ducks!

Also, a picture for my Parents of Peyton putting together the puzzle they sent! She loved it!