Daniel 3 months

Daniel 3 months

It's hard to believe that today marks the 12th week of life for our newest addition. Grandmommy, Charlie and I took Daniel to Penny's for yet another photo shoot. They are not the best bunch of pics, but they had us waiting for over 40 mins for the sitting. You just can't do that with little ones! He had great smiles before and after the photographer had her camera of course. I'll put together another album for our photos like I did last month and post those as well.

Grand Lake

This past weekend we joined our friends Gary and Deb at their cabin in Grand Lake. We drove up Friday after work and stayed through Sunday afternoon. Charlie and Daniel enjoyed toasting marshmallows out by the fire pit, a "hike" to a waterfall, and a cruise around the lake in Gary's pontoon boat. Mom and Dad enjoyed the adult company and the relaxing surroundings. Thanks Gary and Deb for your hospitality. I can't wait to see some of the pictures you took, but for now here are the few we snapped before the camera died.

Grand Lake

Cure Search Walk

The whole family took part in the Denver Cure Search Walk at Sloan's Lake this morning. I was there super early as a volunteer to help set up and Chad and the boys joined just before the walk kicked off. Charlie was honored with a medal for his bravery during his treatments and got to visit with fellow pediatric cancer survivors. This was the first year for the walk and hopefully next year we can form a team and try to raise money for the cause. This organization helps to fund the research study that Charlie is a part of. Chad and I both commented over lunch that it is difficult to participate in events like this because it brings those deeply buried emotions up to the surface. We tend to just deal with the day to day of this disease, but when you all gather together and hear the stories, good and bad, it can get pretty emotional.

Thank Goodness for Crazy Hats

A special thank you to Aunt Olivia and all of her friends. Olivia sent us a note the day after Charlie's hair started to fall out that we should be receiving hats from random people in the mail. The picture below shows Charlie in one of these fun hats from our postal friends. Thank you so much, we don't know many of you, but having hats makes Charlie feel special when he gets to choose what cool hat he gets to wear that day.

Sam I am

Charlie has become obsessed with Green Eggs and Ham. I noticed they were reading it at school a few weeks back so I grabbed if off of the shelf for a little night time reading. Now Charlie asks to read "Sam I am," ALL of the time. In the video he got tired of waiting for us to read it to him and started "reading" himself. It's a pretty long clip so it is hosted on you tube under angela@h00per.com for anyone interested you can get to it from your TV and iphone too.

Daniel on the Go

Daniel loves being in the jogger/bike stroller!

Nurse Dad - Delayed Intensification Part 2

Wednesday (9/8/10) started the second half of Delayed Intensification. Charlie had four different types of chemo over the course of 7 hours in clinic. One was in his spine during a lumbar puncture, and three were through his IV port. One of the medicines can be very harmful to his bladder so they pumped hours worth of IV fluid through him to flush it out without damage. We also have to administer chemo through his port at home nightly. In one of the pictures above you can see Chad giving Charlie his first dose under the watchful eye of Nurse Sally. It was a very long day, but both boys were troopers. It helped that Granddan and Garney were there for the first part of the day before heading home. This part takes 4 weeks, but then we should be on our way to Maintenance.

Head Shaving Neighbors

When Charlie was diagnosed many of the famous "Colgate Place" neighborhood men offered to have a head shaving party in solidarity. On Labor Day we gathered in the front of the Berscheid's house and buzzed Dave AND Andrew's head! Jarrett, John and Daddy had already used the clippers for their new (and everyday) dos. Take a look at Andrew's before and after shots!

Head shaving neighbors

Practice Tubies

We've posted about Charlie's central IV line or mediport that was put in for his chemo. Everytime we go to the clinic he has to be "accessed" through this port. This is usually a scary experience for him so we decided to "practice" having "tubies" accessed every night to make it a normal event. Hopefully our work will pay off and Charlie will be more calm in clinic the next time he has to do it for real. This video below shows Chad and Charlie going through the routine. Hopefully our nurses will see this and witness the progress.

Train Museum

Train Museum

The Colorado Train Museum is heaven to 3yr old boys and 59 year old men. We took Charlie, Daniel, Garney and Granddan to this mecca on Saturday. Charlie had a great time climbing on train platforms, turning knobs and watching the model train run. Granddan had a great time taking pictures, talking about trains and watching the model train run. It was a great place to go, not too many children to catch germs from and we used our free passes that the Children's Hospital gave us a few weeks ago. We hope to get back to the museum before the end of the month for the Thomas the Tank Engine day. Now that would blow his little mind. I put together a few pictures in the album above, note that Daniel slept through just about the whole trip.