Look at what we got on eBay!

The starting bid was only $0.01, but the shipping charges were outrageous. . .

Colorforms!!

Thank you, Aunt Phylis, for the wonderful Colorforms!! They're like stickers, only reusable! Love them!!

January Photo Dump - Baby Brad

Mommy caught Paul playing very nicely with Baby Brad, his Cabbage Patch doll. . .

Paul feeds Baby Brad a bottle of juice. . .
. . .and even shares. . .

. . .his binky?!?!?

Yay!

January Photo Dump - Misc

Doogie Howser's blog this is not. . . Unless Doogie wrote with all "zzzzzzz."
Elephant!

Elephant - trunk! *brrrup* (elephant noise)

Yo, hard core stickers, yo.

January Photo Dump - Who needs a big-boy bed. . .

. . .when there are perfectly good stairs?

Paul's audition shot for the new remake of Psycho

January Photo Dump - Blue Bin Sequence

Boy approaches Blue Bin. . .
Boy hides in Blue Bin. . .

Boy, Blue Bin, and Kazoo. . .

Still life with Kazoo and Blue Bin. . .

Boy done with Blue Bin. . . Help?

Whut?

January Photo Dump - Playing with the new camera

Daddy got himself a fancy-schmancy camera, and tested it on his favorite subject, Paul.

Examining his notebook.
Cheese!

My binky.

BINKY!!

And back to coloring. . .

January Photo Dump - Hanging with Georgia

The night before Paul's hospital adventure began, we got to hang out with Georgia and her Mommy and Daddy. On the 5 minute drive to their house, Paul spilled half a bottle of water on his pants, and borrowed some of Georgia's sweats. (26 months old, and already he got into a girls pants. . .probably shouldn't post that. . .)

Much awesome playing ensued, both side by side and chasing each other up and down the hallways. After pizza, we got 'em into PJs. . .

. . .and said goodnight.

A few hours later, we were in the emergency room, but at least we had a great last night out!

My demands must be met!

Last night at dinner, Paul was eating his spaghetti and meatballs, when he turned to Mommy and said a string of syllables. Mommy didn't understand, so Paul repeated himself. Mommy still didn't understand.

Paul took a deep breath and clearly announced:
NOTEBOOK! AND! CRAYON!!

That we all understood.

Harrowing Holiday Weekend

Some people like to spend a 3-day weekend doing things like skiing, visiting family, home improvement projects. We have emergencies.

Paul was diagnosed with ITP, or Immune thrombocytopenic purpura. Wikipedia describes it pretty well.

I described the experience in a Facebook post:
We noticed that he had a lot more bruising than usual on his legs and arms a few days after spiking a fever. The next day he was covered with little broken blood vessel marks - kind of like a rash without any bumps. Shawn took him to the pediatrician, who thought it would be this diagnosis, but didn't know to what degree. He ran a full blood panel, and we got a call to hit the ER ASAP.

Once in the ER, they started an IV line and ran another blood panel, and counted his platelets. Normal range is 150-200k. Paul's was about 4K. So, he was admitted, administered an IV drug regimen, and we just have wait and see how he reacts.

Luckily, Paul reacted phenomenally to the treatment (IVIg, for those watching at home), and by this morning his platelet counts had more than tripled. Paul was discharged by the afternoon, and was thrilled to be reunited with Hippo, Elephant, and his stickers.

We need to go back to the hospital tomorrow or Wednesday for another blood screen to make sure his counts continue to rise. Then, we will need to have weekly blood tests (most often at a local hospital) for several months, as it is normal for counts to dip after a month or two, then rise again. After than, we'll probably still monitor his counts with monthly tests for a while. Thanks to his age and that this is immune and not idiopathic, chances for a complete recovery with no remission are very, very high.

We are thankful for the outpouring of support and well-wishes we've received from friends and family, and feel blessed that we got to take our child home after only two days on the children's hematology/oncology floor. We left many other children behind who had been there for weeks before us, and will remain for weeks after today.


Here's Paul catching a little shut eye with his Daddy after a grueling night in the ER:

Mommy and Daddy may have been stressed to near breaking point, but Paul seemed to love the hospital experience. He got to eat in bed, have Froot Loops and as many apple juice boxes as he could chug, plenty of pretty nurses and doctors to flirt with, watch hours and HOURS of Blue's Clues and other cartoons. So what if occasionally someone wanted to "give his leg a hug" (take blood pressure), make his toe glow (pulse-ox meter), or take a little blood? What price that for JUICE BOXES and BLUE'S CLUES?!?!?!?

Florida Adventure! - We're Home!

Monday morning it was time to come home. Unfortunately, our airplane was given to a flight to New York, and we were stuck with a broken plane and an "indefinite" delay. So, we took a bus to Ft. Lauderdale and made it home. Paul with a fever, and me totally exhausted!

Paul wanted to push the stroller everywhere!

It was wonderful to see Mommy and have an IHOP welcome home meal.

Florida Adventure! - Day 6

Sorry for not posting sooner - Florida had some really windy weather, and the internet was down. What were we to do on vacation without the net? Visit Bubbie, get a haircut, and have dinner with the grand-aunts and grand-uncles!

"Bubbie, nino doggie!" (Translation? "Bubbie, this piano sounds like a dog!")

Dad and I put up a LOT of picture frames.

Ah...There's mommy!

Oh look - birds. Now, let's keep pushing this stroller.

Iguanas falling from trees.

Haircut time at snipedy do dahs - and then a lollypop!

The whole Florida family! Bubbie, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Rosanne, Aunt Marcia, and Uncle Arnie. And 7 tons of Chinese food.

Bath time!

Florida Adventure! - Day 5

We were going to to to the Miami Seaquarium, but it turns out that it is all outside - and it was 55 degrees and freezing. Luckily, the Miami Children's Museum was nearby. Paul LOVED it!

Let's go fishing, daddy. Can you catch a fish?

(insert Jaws theme here)

I love you, giant teddy bear...

Love those robes...

Ride 'em, cow boy

Later, we went and got a haircut (yes, all of them, Beren). Best part? Lolly-pop!

Grandma, please draw me again!