Cycle 9 of 12

Cycle 9 of 12: Every three months starts a new "cycle" for Charlie in Chemotherapy. Every 3rd visit they inject chemo into his spinal column in addition to the normal "drip" chemo. Charlie gets to take a "nap" during the procedure because they knock him out with propofol, Yep the same stuff Michael Jackson used to catch some zzzz's. This visit he fell asleep in the pre-op room even before he got into surgery! Such a tired little guy. The photo above on the right shows our little superhero snoozing after his tubies. TUBIES!!!! Charlie was amazing, fantastic, crazy good at having his port accessed this month. It makes me tear up just thinking about all of those screaming fits he would throw. It also makes me want to hug the mothers of the younger kids in clinic and tell them, "I PROMISE you it will get better, I didn't believe it when he was 3 1/2, just like you now, but it will get better. Just look at my rock star 5 year old!" So Charlie was great for tubies and very sweet and cooperative with the nurses and doctors in the procedure room. The picture on the right shows one of the nurses checking his MRN number on his armband and matching it with the dosage of chemo that was delivered from the pharmacy. Yep that's him, and he'll only have to do this 3 more times! ( I know Dr. Albano... he'll probably have more Lumbar punctures in the monitoring phase, but for now, in my mind, due to the cycle numbering it is 3! get it!)

Splash Day Every Day!

I was just thinking that it had been quite some time since we received a "Primrose Email." The directors send funny little emails  and pictures to us every now and then. The context for this note was that last Friday Ana was the only baby in the infant room ALL DAY LONG. She must have been spoiled rotten by Miss Roni and Miss Renee,  her "teachers." I heard that she visited each of the big kid classroom including Daniel and Charlie's classes. The Splash day further explains her wardrobe change that day :)

The Text reads:

Hi Mom and Dad,

     After these pictures were taken, they really got me thinking about my future aspirations.  I wanted to propose some ideas I have to you, so I waited a few days to make sure I had my thoughts together and could put them down on “virtual paper”…So here we are!

     They say it’s good to have goals. Some people want to be doctors. Some want to be lawyers or vets. Right now, I just want to be a toddler! Here are some of my preliminary goals:

1)      Find a way to maintain the 1:1 ratio that I had on that day EVERY DAY! I loved not having to contend with anyone else for bouncy seat time or make Exersaucer reservations.

2)      Since I was the only baby, Ms. Renee let me hang with the toddlers and do Splash Day, so I also vote for Splash Day EVERY DAY (at least until temps dip below 84 degrees)

3)      Find a way to convince babies and toddlers alike that rolling your onsie up to create the belly shirt effect should be considered a fashion statement. I’m not saying it’s a “go” for everyone. I mean you have to draw the line on what’s socially acceptable. Spandex and belly shirts are not for everyone, but I mean, I’m cute and make this “half shirt” look good!

Ana is 8 months

Happy 8.5 months Ana! The picture above was from the end of July, but it is too cute not to highlight on the blog. Chad laughs when he looks at it, says she looks like a muppet! Did I mention she's crawling.... oh and pulling up, feeding herself cherrios and essentially zooming out of baby-hood! Ana is now the oldest "baby" in the infant room at Primrose. She's going to be a year old in no time.

First Picture of the Hooper Kiddos

Kids' pictures July 2012

Kudos to the photographer from JC Pennys! This is the first picture of all three Hooper Kiddos sitting still and  (pretty much) all looking at the camera. We realized that we had not take Daniel in for 2 year pictures and that Ana was growing up too fast. An Impromptu trip to the picture place fixed that. Luckily the Park Meadows mall has a new Disney store. We essentially bribed Charlie with a trip through that store if he sat for his pictures with the babies.We managed to get a great picture of the kids and made it out of the Disney store without buying a thing. Successful Sunday!

Back Yard Camp Out

This summer we haven't had the chance to take off for a family camping trip, so this weekend I decided that the boys and I were going to "rough it" in the backyard.  We haven't been camping since the summer before Daniel was born.  Apparently pregnant women don't like to sleep on their back on the ground in the middle nowhere . . .who knew? 

We might still try to squeeze in a camping trip this summer, so it was time to test Daniel's camping mettle and take stock of the equipment.  On our last trips, we had camped through some pretty vigorous storms and my memory was that the tent was in pretty rough shape.  As I unpacked all of the equipment, several fond memories flashed back into my head.  We were missing a sleeping pad due to it's unfortunate run-in with some caustic chemical that melted the plastic . . . not sure what it was.  The duck tape on the poles reminded me of the gale force wind storm we "slept" through at Estes Park.  A couple of them had snapped and our tent caved in on us.  The green tent patch served as a very pointed reminder about why broken poles should probably be replaced rather than duct taped.  Our wind battered tent had collapsed just enough on a subsequent trip that it came into contact with our latern and burned a hole.  Luckily no Hooper was harmed in that incident.  All that said, the tent was still in good enough condition to handle a simple backyard affair.  The question was if Dad was. 

The boys and I packed a few toys and books, filled our water bottles and made the long trek out to our campsite.  We were super excited.  After climbing in, we got our jammies on and began to settle in for the evening.  We had a good time playing airplanes and superheroes and reading books.  After it got dark the boys had fun looking at "that star" (this was city camping afterall) and the occasional airplane flying overhead.  Charlie hung tough for a good while, but finally went to sleep at a reasonable 9 o'clock.  Daniel . . . not so much.  I think he was a little excited to be sleeping next to Dad.  He talked for another hour and half while I read my book.  The kid was an Energizer Bunny.  They did both stay asleep the whole night, which makes me believe they are ready for the real thing even if the tent isn't.  We just have to talk Mom and Ana into it.