Tuesday, January 24, 2006

4th quarter 2006

December 27, 2006 Day +1365 Day #1,063 off treatment
Today was another good day. The boys slept until about 8:00. They all went to the hunting store and Best Buy with Paw Paw and daddy. Taylor rode his 4 wheeler. He is getting fast and braver each day. That is scary! He actually does really good, he will be a breeze to teach to drive. I certainly pray that we will indeed teach him to drive in only 11 short years. Did I mention that we booked his birthday party. Yes, for the 3rd year in a row we will be having it at Pump it up. I named off every place imaginable to have a party and that was the only place he would agree too. What do you do? I just want him to have the best party he can have and if that is what makes him happy then so be it. He will have his party on January 20th one day after his birthday. I can not believe he will be 6 years old. Wow!!!!! Praise God for this walking miracle that lives with us! Anyway, back to today. We went to eat and to the Wal mart this afternoon. We also had to go back to Best Buy where one Logan Riley left his baby. I tell you what, he is one LUCKY boy. That is the 2nd time we have gone back to a store hours later and found that stupid thing. I have made a new rule, it will not leave the house unless he is spending the night away from home. It must stay in the bed. He will be unhappy, but he will get used to it. I am very very tired of keeping up with it. He is doing very well with his potty training. I guess you could say we are done. He wears a pull up at night and sometimes wets and sometimes doesn’t. That will come. Taylor was still in pull ups when he started ball at 3 ½, so we are doing good. We are home now where we are just hanging out. I cleaned up the living room today. I threw Taylor’s stuff into his room and I had Logan’s room clean. It is now a total disaster again. I guess I will give up until this weekend when the boys head to the hunting club. I don’t think much hunting will be done just 4 wheelin’ and muddin’ as Taylor calls it. He is so silly and so grown up.

He has had some tummy aches today and been on the potty a lot. He told me he wanted to throw up, but nothing ever came of that. He seems to be fine now, running all over the place as fast as he can. I know for a fact that a tummy virus is going around and that he just had clean scans, but I will admit it bugs me. I will not let Satan in and ruin or good news or our holiday. He has a tummy bug and I should be thankful it is coming out that end and not the other!! Well, I think that is enough of my babbling. We are having some computer issues, so be on the look out for more updates. Have a very Happy New Year if I don’t update again before then!!

December 26, 2006 Day +1364 Day #1,062 off treatment
Logan slept until 7:30 which is not all that late, but considering he went to bed at 6:30 last night it is. He is such a stinker! Taylor woke up at 8:30 and picked up where he left off last night, eating! He had a bowl of oatmeal and 2 pieces of cheese toast for breakfast. PIG! We picked them up around 11:00 and went to Costco and Don Don’s. We were going to play on the playground, but there was a birthday party going on and it was just too full. We headed home to play on the riding toys instead. I promise we didn’t have to twist their arms on that one. Taylor ate his food in the car so that he could ride as soon as he got home. Gam maw called and she and Nancy and Ghen Ghen wanted to take the boys to see “Happy Feet”. We dropped them off to the ladies and we went to see “Night at the Museum”. It was kind of silly, but cute. I ran into the activity director at Children’s and we had a nice chat. It is always nice to see a friendly face that helped us through so much. We still have the reindeer art she made with Taylor in 2002, it is hanging up right where it always hangs. After the movie we stopped at the Mexican place for dinner then headed home. Taylor was excited to sleep on his new Cars sheets and comforter. He sure looked cozy in all that new bedding. Logan was excited because he got the old fire truck blanket that was on Taylor’s bed. He loved it and he too looked all cozy. It was another good day.

December 25, 2006 Day +1363 Day #1,061 off treatment
Merry CHRISTmas!

Good morning to you all. I certainly hope you have all had a wonderful day. We have. Taylor has had some rough moments that have earned him a stern talking to. He is sooooo mad that is so cold and rainy, all he wants to do is ride! We had the trailer ready to load up to take to Pop’s, but a rain shower blew up and we didn’t take it. He fell to pieces for the millionth time today. Anyway, the morning was fun. We had the alarm set so that Logan didn’t get up and sneak past us. By 7:00 we woke them up. Why is that they are up at the crack of dawn everyday but Christmas day? Logan was mesmerized that there were toys in the living room on top of what that darn Ernie did to the room. He had strung lights all over the room. It looks like we are about to have a block party. Logan got a huge tractor and a pillow tractor. He had trains, a magna doodle, cars, pjs, clothes and so much more. Taylor had an awesome cars chair, a play station portable and games to go in it, cars night light, a big lightning McQueen car and more. They had a ball! We got ready to go to pop’s house and headed that way. It took longer than usual to get to the present part and they were a bit crazed by the time we got to it. Logan got the cutest tractor. It sings the theme to Green Acres and moves by itself, he got a cars set and a some clothes. Taylor got cars, a rc truck that pulled a 4 wheeler and clothes. Finally, he got those ugly cars tennis shoes he has been about to bust to get into. We made some of the magic snow Ghen Ghen gave them and they had a blast playing in the snow in Pop’s living room floor. Soon it was time to head for home. Guh was there shortly after us to look at all the goodies. Once again, God and Mother Nature shined down on us and the rain stopped long enough to show Guh the new riding toys. Taylor talked his way into spending the night at Guh’s house, so they left once again for the night. As we were packing up for them to go he got a bad tummy ache and pooped several times. He had no more troubles at Guh’s and ate like a horse. Logan fell asleep on the way and stayed asleep all night. Little stinker! Taylor played and ate and ate and played until bed time which came around 9:00 for him. As for Jim and I, well, we were bums. At 7:00 we were piled up in the bed watching TV, reading a book and playing with Taylor’s 20 question game. He mentioned going to the movies and we just looked at each other and nothing ever happened. I think it was 9:00 when I put the book down and fell asleep. Gosh, what a bum!

We truly have been blessed this year and hope to be blessed with good health for many more years. I ran into a friend from church at the store yesterday and she said it best, “you can just count heads at your house and know you have been blessed.” That is so very true! I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas. Please be in prayer for those who were in the hospital this year. Pray for those who are missing a loved one this year. Pray for Jon, Jake and Christi’s families as they make it through the first Christmas without their babies. Pray that 2007 is a year that finds a cure for this beast and all of our babies can be cured. Merry Christmas!

December 24, 2006 Day +1362 Day #1,060 off treatment
Christmas Eve already, where does the time go? I had to make a run to Food world this morning. We cooked chili for our party tonight. We went ahead and made cookies for Santa tonight. We had a hard time containing the boys excitement. They could not wait for everyone to get here. Logan ended up falling asleep about 30 minutes before everyone showed up. I guess it was better that he got a little nap than none at all. Gam maw and Paw Paw got here with a trailer full of surprises. They each got to open one present in the house before going out to see what was in the trailer. Taylor got a helmet and he thought it was to use when he rode on paw paw’s 4 wheeler. Boy was he in for a surprise. We all bundled up and went outside. Thank the good Lord the rain held off until after dark. Logan was still groggy and didn’t really care about his new John deer tractor riding toy. He was worried that his gator was gone. We had to get Taylor to ride the new one to show him how cool it was. Once he woke up he was ready to go. The look on Taylor’s face when they pulled the tarp off his very on 4 wheeler, was priceless! He was so excited. I am glad that Ernie was able to get to the North pole so fast! They rode for a while then we went in to open more stuff. They got so much. Logan got a cool easel that can talk to you about your drawings, it is really neat. Taylor got cars stuff and magnets, his favorite. Once again, by bed time we had most everything put away and cleaned up for tomorrow.

Thank you to everyone for all the Christmas goodies! The boys were in bed by 9:00 and we thought it would be an all night thing waiting for sleep to come. It was far from it. I checked on them at 9:45 and they were out. Lucky me, huh!

December 23, 2006 Day +1361 Day #1,059 off treatment
Today we had an early start. We went to Guh’s this morning for Christmas with her. The boys got some cool stuff. Logan got a tractor set and a bunch of other stuff. Taylor got a Cars TV game and some board games. He loved Operation. We had kind of thought that his temper would over ride and he would get very upset. However, he has very good hand eye coordination and plays it very well. We played for a while then got all picked up so that the rest of my side of the family could come over and we had another Christmas celebration. Taylor got lots of GI Joe stuff which he loved and the fact that Drew was playing with him made it even better. Aunt Mary got him a cool Cars light that looks like a traffic light. He loves it. Logan got trains and a piano and Lucky Duck game. The older boys got the hand held game 20 Questions and the adults had a great time with it! We spent the rest of the afternoon playing and spending time together. Soon it was time to go see Santa on the roof. There is a man down the street who has Santa on his roof every year. It is a huge ordeal in the area and the lines get long. Taylor and Logan were fairly close to the front, so it didn’t take too long. We were shocked to be behind a friend from our side of town, word does spread. They were just as shocked as ever when Santa called their names. Taylor was even more shocked when the sucker he sent down the candy shoot was a root beer dum dum. He said, “how did he know I like that kind” It was so funny! After our visit with Santa we headed for home. It was a long day, so we didn’t have any trouble getting the boys in bed. We actually got all the new toys put away and the house is still clean for our party tomorrow.

I had on a shirt with little silver beads on it that made spots on the car roof. The boys thought it was Ernie, so we went with it. We passed by a gas station with little 4 wheelers out front and Taylor cried and cried thinking it was too late to tell Santa he wanted one. I covered my shirt and told him Ernie was on his way to the North pole to put in the last minute request. They loved it! I know he will love it tomorrow!

December 22, 2006 Day +1360 Day #1,058 off treatment
So much for sleeping late, but I can not blame it on Logan. The boys went to spend the night with Gam maw and Paw paw last night. However, I was still wide awake, staring at the ceiling at 6:45. I did get a lot done though before the boys came home at about 9:30. The played pretty good today. It was rough trying to keep things picked up behind them all day, but we did it. I put Logan to bed and he was gone in no time. They pulled a fast one on paw paw and stayed up until midnight and woke up at 5:30. I am so glad that pulled that there and not home! I will admit that I crawled into my bed too and fell asleep. Taylor laid on the couch and watched cartoons, but I do not think he ever fell asleep. I went to Wal mart after Jim got home. It was so peaceful there all by myself! The lines were awful, but there were no kids in my buggy fighting. I came home to a battle. Logan wanted a diaper on and we do not even have any. He has been in undies for 2 weeks now and he has decided he doesn’t want one. Oh well! Well, we are all equally stubborn and it was an ugly battle. He screamed and cried about it until he wet all over his bedroom floor and himself too. I was so mad at him. I guess he thought he had proved his point then as he put on new underwear and never mentioned it again. I tell ya, he is gonna kill me! The rest of the night was pretty normal. The kids played in the playroom and I got stuff ready to go to Guh’s tomorrow.

December 21, 2006 Day +1359 Day #1,057 off treatment
The last day of school! Yahoo! Taylor had a field trip today, so he only had to carry a sack lunch. That was nice not to have worry about all the bags this morning. They went to Critter Creek to see Santa and his reindeer. He is very sleepy and that tells me a good time was had by all. He has a tattoo on his hand. He got his picture made in Santa’s sleigh. They played on the play ground and on the bouncy stuff. I know he had fun, but he is worn out. Logan and I checked him out after we got out at 1:00. We went to the Dollar Tree to get a surprise. Taylor has been on green light all of December and Logan is dry again today in underwear. I was not prepared to pay big bucks for something at Walmart this close to Christmas, so we went to the dollar store instead. They both picked out a toy and a snack. Logan is now asleep against his will. That is not going to work much longer! Taylor is playing and has eaten at least 4 Christmas cookies, pig! I am so thrilled that school is out. My plan is to sleep late tomorrow and hang out at home in my pj’s. I think we will be hanging out at home, but I am sure Mr. Logan will halt the sleep late plans. Oh well, we have 2 weeks to try it.

Please be in prayer for our little friend Jon’s family. He had recently relapsed with infant leukemia. His web page has been shut down, so I have no details, but I have learned that he earned his angel wings a few days ago. He will be buried in Hayleville, Al. Be in prayer for David and Anissa and his big sister. We will miss you baby Jon. Miss Madison got the all clear from all her tests this week. Yahoo! We know all to well the wonderful feeling of great scans at Christmas time! Evan is coming home which is great, but he has low counts, so lets pray he can stay fever free and not catch anything while he is hear. Pray for our new friend Madison Miller who was recently diagnosed with Lymphoma. Pray for all the families that are missing a loved one this year. Pray for those who will be in the hospital for Christmas. Pray for those who are NED to remain that way. Pray that 2007 finds a cure!!!

December 20, 2006 Day +1358 Day #1,056 off treatment
Another good day. Taylor brought home ALL his art from the month and they sure do have some cute stuff. He has put it on the tree or placed it around the house, there is Christmas art all over the place. You gotta love it! Taylor was on green light for the 36th day in a row and he is one day shy of finishing off the month. Logan told me not to put a pull up on him this morning. I didn’t and he is STILL DRY!!! Yahoo!!! I am so excited. We went to Don Don’s this morning and he was holding himself and I new he had to go, but he took one look at the public bathroom and said no. I held him up and helped him stand and anything I could think of on 3 separate trips. I finally loaded him up in the car and headed for the church where he went and went and went. Bless his heart, but he seems to have good control! He stayed dry all day and told his teachers when he needed to poop and potty. What a big boy he is! I am so proud. After school today we just hung out at home. Taylor watched cartoons and made ornaments with glue and popsicles sticks. He had asked why he didn’t have several art projects that he missed when he went to the DR. I told him I could help him make a pine cone tree or a snow flake. I asked what they made the snowflakes out of. He told me, “I will need to eat some chocolate popsicles.” How funny! I found s pack of colorful ones from the craft store, so he was able to do his art, but I think he would have liked eating the popsicles.

It has been a great week. I can not guarantee another update before Christmas. I will try,but it may not happen. We have a lot of plans. Please have a very Merry Christmas. Be safe in your travels. Show the ones you love how much they are loved and appreciated. Remember those who are not with us and pray for comfort and peace for the ones who are missing loved ones. Be sure to check back as I know that Christmas Eve and Day will have plenty of news worthy events. Have a very Merry Christmas!

December 19, 2006 Day +1357 Day #1,055 off treatment
Today was another good day. I didn’t have a lot of kids, I guess people are just starting the holiday break early. I hope that is it and no one is sick, there is a yucky tummy bug going around. I do not want that in this house!! Logan slept after school and Taylor played outside. I am not sure what he saw, but he came running in so excited. He was telling me about a rocket with fire shooting out that went flying by and crashed behind the mountain. Hmmm, I am not sure what that could be, but he liked it. I was doing different things around the house and I looked outside every few minutes to check on him. Well, I got an eye full on one check. He was standing next to the ditch in the FRONT yard. It looked as though he was about to use the bathroom, but I thought surely not. I was wrong. He peed in the ditch while looking around at the man across the street who was in the driveway working. I guess he was putting out the fire that Jim burnt there over the weekend. He was shaking and shimmering all over the place. I have never seen him do this before and I was not quite sure rather the laugh or get onto him. I asked him later why he did it and he said he didn’t want to come in the house. I asked him to try and come in the house next time. I must say that it was kind of funny. Guh came over and stayed with the boys while Jim and I went to Wal-mart and Bob Sykes for dinner. It was yummy! The boys had to go to bed early because they were so wild and I couldn’t stand to hear it anymore. Taylor was asleep in no time, but Logan was up forever. He stayed in the bed, but he sang and talked for the longest.

December 18, 2006 Day +1356 Day #1,054 off treatment
Back to school. Taylor was pretty excited to go back. He has started to complain a bit about school. I know he loves school, but could do without getting up so early. He also has figured out that it lasts longer than Mother’s day out and doesn’t like that. A lot of parents eat once a week or so with their kids. I don’t get out in time, so I don’t go and he brought that to my attention. So, I guess I will be leaving early a few times to eat lunch with him. Poor fella! After school we headed for home where I crashed. We had our party at school today, so the morning was spent taming the kids who were so excited and the afternoon spent chasing Logan at the party. He had fun. We “rode” the Polar Express and then ate chocolates and drank hot chocolate. We wore our pj’s to school too. Yes, I wore my too. The best part was that Taylor got to wear his today too, so no one had to get up and get dressed on this Monday morning. Cool huh! Taylor felt a little odd getting out of the car this morning in his pj’s, he kept asking if it was okay. Only the kindergarten was doing it today and there just happened to be none in the car pool line by us, so he didn’t see other kids in their pj’s. I think he was worried. He was in his Cars pj’s though, so I don’t think he much cared. I was so sleepy when I got home that I just hit the bed. Logan did too and Taylor watched cartoons. We hung out at home all night. Taylor did his homework which was to write his last name. He is getting better. All in all, it was a great day.

December 17, 2006 Day +1355 Day #1,053 off treatment
Today we went to Church where we listened to the choir present the Christmas musical and as always it was great. Logan sat with us again. He was quiet, but he wiggled a lot. He did pretty good. We lit candles at the end and his face was priceless when he thought he was going to have to touch the lit candle. After church the boys went to see Charlotte’s Web. Jim and I just ran around town without kids! Once they got home we tried to settle down and start getting ready for the new week. Logan got a TV for his birthday and he is loving it. He has about worn his Goofy movie out already.

December 16, 2006 Day +1354 Day #1,052 off treatment
Happy Birthday Logan!

I can not believe my baby is 3 years old. I can not believe that he is the same age that Taylor was when he was born. I guess it was the situation that Taylor had been in, but he seemed so much older and bigger. I guess not really if you think about it, I guess it is just me trying to get the baby to stay a baby. Taylor was not potty trained when Logan was born and still sucked a passy, so he was by no means more grown up.

Okay, enough rambling, we had a great party! Our guests started to arrive around 11:00. We had things ready to go all except the cake. When Jim opened the fridge to get it out there sat Ernie with his hands in the cake and red icing all over his face! Can you believe that that crazy elf was in the cake. I tell ya, Santa sent us a crazy one. We ate and opened presents. Wow, Logan got some cool stuff. Taylor even got some goodies. They were eager to get outside and play on the 4 wheeler and gator. They had a good time playing with the new toys when it got dark, but the day was spent outside. Taylor went with Jim to Chris’ house and had a total blast with Christian. He was so dirty when he got home, but he loved it. They drew maps and climbed in dirt piles just cool boy stuff. We all met for dinner later on and then Temp and I hit the mall for a little while. Logan was fast asleep soon after we got home. Jim and Tot didn’t get home until midnight, but Taylor still did not want to go to bed. I can’t imagine where he gets the energy.

I don’t know if I told you when it happened or not, but anyway. Back in August when it was Jim’s birthday we went to our favorite Mexican place that we always go to and they sang Happy birthday with the sombrero and everything. Well, tonight they sang to Logan with the hat and all. It was so cute. He has the most disgusted look on his face, but it has nothing to do with the hat or the singing, it is the cherry that was on top of his fried ice cream. Too funny!

December 15, 2006 Day +1353 Day #1,051 off treatment
Happy Friday! I am so glad that it is the end of the week. We have a lot of stuff to do tonight. The boys and I went to Wal-mart after school and got party stuff. They were pretty good until we got close to being done. Logan was so sleepy it was not funny and he was so grumpy. He had a candy cane full of Hershey kisses and was banging it on the buggy and it busted open and went everywhere! He cried and cried and cried some more. I picked up what I could and stuffed it back in and he was happy with that. He begged not to go to bed, but was asleep before we got home. He slept for a long time and I was able to get the cake baked and cooling and the house cleaned up. When Jim got home he decorated Mickey Mouse. It was easier with some new tools I got from one of the kids in my class. Thank you Shannon and Jackie!

Taylor was on green light. One more week and he will have all of December on green too. Yahoo! He looks and feels so much better. I guess he had a simple cold and add some constipation and he felt yuck. Poor guy! Logan was dry again today at school. That is all week. I tell ya, he really did do it over night. It is kind of amazing to me. Taylor potty trained quick once he was ready, but not literally over night like Logan did. He is still very adamant that he is not going to move to the 3 year old class, but he is after the new year. I am sure it will be ugly for a few days, but he will love it once he gets used to it. My class eats lunch and snack with the 3 year olds, so we may have to rearrange our schedules for a while. It will work out, we had to do that with Taylor too.

December 14, 2006 Day +1352 Day #1,050 off treatment
Taylor went back to school today and he did fine. He loves school and we are so thankful for that, he had no troubles getting back into the groove. I think he has more trouble with missing than going back. He is eager to get to Christmas break, but I think he just wants to sleep late. He told me the other day he liked my school better because it wasn’t so long. I know he loves his new school too, but it is a lot to get used to after not going to school at all for so long and then for only 4 hours when he did go. He is doing great though thanks to a wonderful teacher and school staff. We are so blessed to have the people God has put before us to care for Taylor!

Logan has done great on the potty. He did wet his bed last night. He is in pull ups, but he little TT was sticking out of his pull up so he wet the bed. That is okay though, he is staying dry all day and last night was the first night he wet at night. People always said it would be over night when he was ready, but I didn’t know it would be literally. Saturday he was in diapers and I changed several diapers. Sunday he was dry all day long and asked to poop in the potty and has not thought about a diaper again. How cool is that! Logan had a nice melt down at car pool today. It has been a while since we had one of those, but it was ugly all the same. I expect him to take a really long nap after all that. He had those after cry shudders even by the time Taylor got in the car. He does not know it yet, but he will be moving into the 3 year old room after Christmas break. He will love it once he gets settled, but I expect some hard days in the beginning. We will get through it though!

Taylor has another green light day today. He enjoyed being back to school. I did too, I like the normal routine! Jim failed to mention to me that the urine was on the high side of normal. Can you imagine why he would not tell me that? It isn’t like I would freak out or anything. I almost did, but I quickly got over it since we just had good scans and I know very well the side effects of his diet on urine markers. He had about 3 doughnuts Friday morning while he waited for his appointment and you know there is vanilla in them and that will mess up the urine results. He also only drinks sweet tea which can also mess up the results. If the numbers were too far off they would probably restrict his diet and do it again, but they won’t at this point. Also, we only do a one time go in the cup kind of thing where as a 24 hour sample is much better. Anyway, as I type to convince myself

I am happy to report that today was a normal day and we are back into the normal groove of things and we hope to keep it that way. I think Jim did a great job of telling everyone how loved and appreciated they are. Did I tell you that Taylor’s yankee blood transfusions are starting to show. I laughed and laughed! Jim announced that he was going some where the other day and Taylor came running down the hall and said, “I want to go with.” Too funny! Once again, thank you for all the support and prayers. Please keep praying for Taylor’s continued success against the beast. Pray for all of our pals that fight their own battles.

December 13, 2006 Day +1351 Day #1,049 off treatment
Once again, wonderful news on today's scan. It showed the same results as yesterday's scans, nothing! We also received results from the urine the doctors had tested Friday. While one of the areas looked at was in the high range of normal, Dr. Berkow was pleased. We discussed at length the past 4 years. I asked him if he was surprised we made it to where we are today. Dr. Berkow is also quite honest with us, which is absolutely what we need and expect, and he quite frankly stated the chances Taylor being here today were smaller than the chances he would not be with us today. We are truly blessed how we have overcome such grim statistics and odds against him. We give all credit to the lord above and Taylor's wonderful medical staff here in Birmingham as well as those yankees up there in New York! Especially the staff at Children's hospital here in Birmingham. From Clinic 8, to 4-Tower, to the 6th floor stem cell unit, we have a group of highly experienced and caring staff! We love you all!!! People often ask us what are the scans that Taylor does and how they work. I found some really good information from cancer.org that explains several types of scans the doctors utilize with Taylor's cancer, as well as the urine tests. If you would like to read this, you can go to www.cancer.org by this link and read all about these type of diagnostic tests! We now have to get Taylor back into the swing of school again starting tomorrow. Once again, from the bottom of our hearts, thanks for your prayers and concerns! We will truly be having a blessed Christmas and wonderful start to 2007!!!

December 12, 2006 Day +1,350 Day #1,048 off treatment
Praises! Praises! Thank God we were given great news. Taylor’s CT and bone scan looked fine. He will have the MIBG tomorrow, but it shouldn’t hold any surprises. Is it possible? Yes, but not very likely. We are also still waiting on HVA/VMA numbers and labs, but again no surprises expected. Again, many thanks to the prayer warriors and the Lord above for the blessings he has given us. Please pray for the 10:00 MIBG tomorrow! He did have the spots on his lungs that he always has and Dr. B wants us to see the pulmonary Dr. again. I will be setting that up soon. We have seen the Asthma Dr and the ENT and no one has answers, so maybe this guy will.

While I am thinking of it visit Jake Owens Page for an amazing story. His mom and dad stopped at a casino for a little fun and won 4.4 MILLION dollars. They have super ideas planned for this money to help cancer kids. How awesome!

Today was a rough one at times. I was by myself today, so it was hard at times to keep my emotions at bay. We did a lot of art! My class will never want to color again. Taylor had a hard time too. He had to be stuck 3 times to get his IV in. He was screaming bloody murder. Jim called to ask me what arm they usually got it in. I couldn’t remember, but I was upset for him. It also brought back memories of the very beginning of this journey when we took him in for a MRI and they stuck him 5 times and sent us home because they couldn’t get it in. Luckily, Jim called back and they had gotten it in his hand finally. They drank contrast, got labs and headed for CT. After the CT they could eat and eat he did. He ate like a horse, little Debbie cakes, doughnuts, bacon and more. I don’t know what it is about that hospital, but he loves to eat there. It was soon time to head to the bone scan. This is the test that diagnosed him, so we knew if there was something there it would show up. I called Jim at about 11:40 because I could not take it anymore. He said they were in the middle of the scan and he wasn’t watching. I got upset again because I am the over analyzer and he always watches, so I was curious if he was watching and didn’t like what he saw or if he really didn’t want to see. Paw Paw took pictures, maybe we will post them so you can see what a scan looks like. A clear scan that is! I took my class down to lunch and it was all I could do to choke down my lunch. I was getting more anxious by the minute. Finally, around 12:45 or so Jim called and gave me the all clear. I did a little jig right there in front of the class, parents and everyone. They didn’t care, they jigged with me! Logan and I headed for home and only beat them by a few minutes. Taylor looked so pitiful when he came in. He had his arm in his shirt like It was broke. He wouldn’t move it. They took off to the hunting club to do some stuff. Taylor was so good at the Dr that he got to go too. He also got to see Santa at clinic and he gave him a HUGE bag of goodies. How sweet of the Talledega EMA to give out all those goodies. Thank you, it made his day! Once the guys left I put Logan to bed. He is still dry and has been since yesterday morning. Yahoo! I started out doing laundry, but soon the rain and exhaustion hit and I took a little nap too. We met for dinner and Taylor is so tired from all the work he did. He ate all his chicken nuggets and that is always good to see. We are home now watching the Incredibles. I am so glad to be watching something new that I don’t care what it is. We have about worn Cars out. They love it! It will soon be bath and bed time and there is certainly a weight lifted tonight as we start those things. Thank you a million times over for all your support and prayers during our journey. Your prayers are heard, felt and answered. Praise God for the miracle he has performed in Taylor’s body. I will update again tomorrow with the results of the MIBG and urine if available.

December 11, 2006 Day +1,349 Day #1,047 off treatment
I walked Taylor into school today. I wanted to talk to her about the upcoming days. She was very understanding. I found out she is dealing with cancer in her family too, so be in prayer for her as well. We also talked about Taylor’s testing scores and my worries about him not being where he should be. I am feeling much better after that talk and We will not be doing any of the nueropsych testing for now. We may see problems later on, but for now he is about the states set numbers on his scores. Yeah Taylor! He had a great day at school and talked my head off once he got in the car this afternoon. He did a breathing treatment and then went outside to play. No wonder we are all sick. It felt like 9 degrees on Thursday morning and it was 67 today. Crazy! He had fun out there for about an hour and I went to call him in, but he was already on his way in. He is now playing cars and watching cartoons. Logan had a good day as well. He wore a pull up and undies over it. He was still in the pull up when he came home! Wow. As soon as we got to car pool he said he needed to poop. I told him he could go into the school and he said no, he still doesn’t like a “big” potty. He said he would wait. I didn’t know how that would go, but he still had not gone when we got home. He was asleep though, so I put him to bed. He is still sleeping, I can’t wait to see if he is dry when he wakes up. I think we are about to be there and I will be so happy!

Dr. Pressey, the Dr. that saw Taylor Friday, called today. He just waned to assure me that he was being cautious and didn’t have a high level of concern about seeing anything odd on the scans. He said that the spot on his side that looked like Shingles worried him more than anything else. It has not changed any, so he feels pretty sure that that is not shingles. They will look at it again tomorrow. I also want them to look at his nose/throat. They looked at the cancer end of it Friday and ignored the “common cold” end of it. I am glad that they took me serious, but I do want him to get over this funk too. I felt better having talked to him and Rhonda. However, I am still a little worried and I know that that will intensify tomorrow and Wednesday. He will scan at 9 and 11 on Tuesday and 10 on Wednesday. Please be in prayer for those scans results!!!

December 10, 2006 Day +1,348 Day #1,046 off treatment
Another good day. Taylor slept in our bed last night and therefore I did not sleep. He is such a bed hog. I kept touching him and he had no fever. He didn’t shiver and shake like he did the other night. He was just sleeping soundly and beating his mom up. He kicks and pushes and slaps all night. At 2:20 I had had all I could take so I got up and turned on his TV, I will not make that mistake again. I happen to know that Santa is bringing a new night light, so I will be able to turn the TV off soon. Anyway, I got all cover situated and then went to get him. He is getting so big you can’t just scoop him up and go anymore. By the time I did all that I was wide awake and couldn’t go to sleep. I had woke Jim up too and so he was wide awake with me. We watched Web Junk 20 and it was just stupid enough to put me to sleep! Logan slept until 8:15 and Taylor until 9:00. We got up and got ready for church. Once you are 3 you have to go so big church for a little bit then the kids leave for Children’s church. Well, Logan will be 3 in a week, so we took him on into big church and he did great. I tell ya, I was very nervous about how loud or wild he may get, but he didn’t. He sat still and quiet the entire time. He refused to go to Children’s minute with Taylor. Taylor still won’t go to Children’s church, I am hoping that in the next few weeks we can get both of them going. Taylor always stays seated while we stand to sing or something. Well, not Logan he wanted to be held so he could see what was going on. I was very proud of him. I am also so very happy to say that he has been using the potty! He came upstairs from the play room all by himself and poo pooed! Yahoo!!! He scared me though! When he was done he asked me could he smoosh it. I said NO and he said, “but Bubba does” I though Lord have mercy, that is all I need is for him to smoosh it up. He started to get upset and pointing and I realized he wanted to “flush” it. Whew! I think we have a big boy on our hands!!

After church we met Gam maw and Ghen Ghen at the Olive Garden for lunch. Both boys ate good. We then hit the mall. They built a bear and named them Buzz who is in a Buzz suite and Lightening who is in a Marines suite. They had a good time doing it. We ran into a nurse friend and talked to her for a while. That is fun. We learned from her what a great thing Nurse Melanie did. She got married last night and they had a Cure Search poster up surrounded by photos of kids, Taylor included and their was a donation box there. How wonderful of her to do that on HER special day. That just shows how much she loves her kiddos! We love you Melanie and wish you and Scott all the best. Wish we could have been there! The boys soon pooped out, well, they really just wanted to play with their new bears. We headed for home where they did just that.

Please continue to be in prayer for Taylor and his upcoming scans.

December 9, 2006 Day +1,347 Day #1,045 off treatment
I went to bed last night with a wonderful peace about the whole situation. The boys had played well and Taylor had downed 7 chicken nuggets. We went looking at Christmas lights and sat cuddled up doing hidden picture activities. He had some fever, but not high, that does concern me the way it comes and goes, but I am trying not to dwell on that thought. I tucked both boys in bed and off to dream land they went. Taylor must have gone too far! He woke up at about 11:45 coughing like crazy like he did the other night. I had the garbage can just in case, but he did nothing more than spit a few times. Some of it is him doing it to himself, he tries so hard to get the gunk to come up that he makes himself throw up. I felt awful for him. He soon calmed down and stopped coughing, but he was crying. I tried and tried to find out why but he wouldn’t say. Finally, I shook him and said to look at me and tell me what was wrong. By this time I was scared to death thinking something was wrong. The nut must have been half asleep his answer was, “where is my belt?” I said, “what belt” He said, “it is hanging out the window.” And then started to cry again. I had to laugh. I rubbed his head and back and told him it was okay and he was sound asleep in no time. It was tough to go back to sleep then, but I did and he woke up laughing and playing. His eyes look terrible, but he is coughing and snotting up a storm, so I am guessing that is all it is. He has eaten a great breakfast of noodles. He is running and playing like usual. Other than the cough and snot he seems fine. I am praying very hard that all this will be over on Wednesday and we are back to normal. I am still scared, but do have a peace about it. Please join us in prayer as we await the results.

We hung out at home until Guh came over at about 1:00. We went to Don Don’s and then to the grocery store. I ran into Sarah in eth store and Carson is home. Yeah! He has 3 weeks of IV antibiotics to deal with, but at least he is home. Please keep them in prayer as they keep a 2 year old from messing with the pic line! Once we got home Logan went to sleep. He was so grumpy and tired he was being very ugly. Taylor helped us make the taco dip for the party tonight. He is wild as a buck and bad as ever and I am soooo glad to see it!

The party was a lot of fun! We had plenty of yummy food to eat. The kids had a ball playing in the gym. They all brought riding toys to play with and balls and they loved it. Santa came for a visit and they loved that. He shocked Taylor and Logan by knowing all about them. He commented on Taylor being on green light all month. He talked to Logan about using the potty and about the green tractor is he building for him. He also told them that Ernie had been reporting back to him about their behavior and he was sorry that Ernie was being so messy! Logan had to go back for a second visit with Santa! He then had a grand time eating a candy cane. It was soon time to head home and we were all very sleepy. We watched a movie, what else other than “cars”. It wasn’t long before we all hit the bed.

December 8, 2006 Day +1,346 Day #1,044 off treatment
Okay prayer warriors, it is time to kick it into high gear. Taylor ran fever all night last night. Finally around 8:30 it was going down. He woke up fever free this morning, but in a cancer kid that is equally alarming. His original symptoms were off and on fevers. Anyway, I just couldn’t shake the need for him to go on in. Jim was willing to take him, so off they went. It was rocky start seeing as clinic didn’t see the need in him coming to them since he didn’t have a port. I had a little melt down and let them know I had already talked to Meredith about it and she said he could come in. I still couldn’t get an answer, so I called to make an appointment with the peds office for 11:00. I went ahead and went to work and a few minutes after I got there the clinic called me and said he could come in at 11:30. I called and cancelled the peds office and called Jim to redirect him towards Children’s. I was nervous all day. He called me around 11:45 or so to say that he had seen the Dr. He has an enlarged liver only slightly, but still a little bigger. I don’t know what that means, but I am not very happy about it. He has moved all scans scheduled for March up to this coming Tuesday and Wednesday. I am thrilled to scan and see exactly what is going on, but it scared the hell out of me to think they see reason to do that. He told us that he is not the regular Dr Taylor sees and that his liver may be that way all the time and he is not aware of it. He did a chest x ray and he is congested and has some stool backed up which could cause his liver to move over, he only felt the edge of it. He also assures us that he is being cautious since the last scans he had were in May, but it still scares me to death to think about it all. I emailed Dr. Berkow and asked what he thought. He told me that he talked to Dr. Pressey and that the reason for moving the scans was due to any symptom in a child with Taylor’s history was cause for doing that. He said, “I suspect he will be fine”. Now, I know that Dr. B is not a miracle worker, but I felt much better after hearing that. He is very familiar with Taylor and I trust his opinion. I am still scared to death about next week, but oddly okay too. It is a strange thing, but part of me is at peace that it will be okay and part of me is terrified of what we may learn. Please be in prayer for Taylor as he heads into the scans. Pray for us as we await the day to come as well as the results. Poor Taylor is upset about missing school. He would have not missed any days in this quarter, but now will miss 3 in the last 3 weeks of school. Poor guy, but we must do this. Please just pray that this is another bump in the road that we will clear and come out on the other side unharmed. We thank you in advance for the prayers. They have been felt and worked for the past 4 years and I know that they will work now too!

December 7, 2006 Day +1,345 Day #1,043 off treatment
Today started off rocky. Taylor whined about everything. He didn’t like his shirt, he accused me of taking his socks because he couldn’t find them when they were on his feet! He cried about brushing his teeth, he went bonkers when we did the nasal irrigation. He never likes it, but he never just goes crazy. I told him to put his coat on and he went crazy. I, of course, felt awful thinking the worst all day. I always feel better when I do not get a call from the school. I feel pretty sure that with all the people there that know his story they will call if anything odd is going on. He seemed to be a little better when I dropped him off. I tried to explain to him why I get so upset and worry so much, but he doesn’t get it. I think all I really do is scare him into not telling me if he hurts or feels bad. UURGH, I hate this mess. I always wanted him to be older so he could tell me and now that he is “older” he is not old enough. Do other cancer moms feel this crazy and confused or am I just over the edge. Everyone I talk to seems to be so clam about it all, but is that just the outside I see? Anyway, when I picked Taylor up he was talking to me the same as always, but he soon stopped and was laying in his seat nearly asleep. He about cried when he told me his friend pulled his ear so hard it moved his entire head. How rude! The friend is on red light, but it didn’t make Taylor feel much better. When we got home he just sat in the car. He never does that, he is usually begging to get out and planning what he can get into before we even get in the garage. I knew then it wasn’t right. I put Logan to bed and then came to talk to him. I asked him to please tell me if anything was wrong. He said his nose hurt. That is easy to explain in the sinus king, so that was not a big deal. I asked if his tummy or side hurt and he said no. I was glad about that, but then he threw in that his leg hurt. I picked him up to love on him and try not to over analyze it and he was burning up. He has a 101.4 fever. UURGH!!! I called Meredith to see if he could just come on in tomorrow. I know he doesn’t have to go to clinic, but I would feel better if the hemonc team saw him rather than the regular peds office. I gave him Triaminic to hopefully break up some of the gunk in his head and Tylenol for the fever. He laid on the couch for about 20 minutes, but he is now up and playing. He is not running or jumping like he usually does, but he is coloring and making a nice size mess. It makes me feel better, but he does still have fever. I know that it is cold and sinus related. There have been 5 kids out in his class, but it is still scary. I have not heard back from clinic, so I don’t know if he will go or not. Please be in prayer for him and his health as well as for me and my nerves. Pray for Carson who is still in the hospital. Pray for all the kids who are fighting this or some other illness or injury. Pray for the families that are missing a loved one right now. We have several angelversaries this month. Trey, Jake, Gracie, Sophia and probably too many more that I don’t even know.

December 6, 2006 Day +1,344 Day #1,042 off treatment
Today was a better day. We all slept well last night and Taylor seemed to be feeling okay. He is still chuggy, but hopefully the meds will kick in soon. Logan is miserable without his buddy Carson at school, but he will not go play with the 3 year olds. We came home after school and just did a lot of nothing. We all got a huge startle when we opened the dryer. Taylor loves to help fold laundry, so he was right beside me when I opened it. There was an elf in the dryer. He was just sitting there perched on the clothes with a note from Santa. His name is Ernie and he was sent here to watch Taylor and Logan and report back to Santa on their behavior. However, I think we need to do some reporting as Ernie has some bad habits of his own. Santa told us in his note that he likes to hide from you and he likes to make a mess. Like I need another boy in this house to make a mess! We met Gam maw for some dinner then headed home for baths and bed. Taylor slept on the bottom. I am not sure why he changed his mind.

Please pray that Taylor is okay. Pray that as usual it is just me over analyzing things and making myself and him miserable. Pray that he is feeling better soon! Pray for Carson as he continues to be in the hospital. Pray for his brother Dakota, who is also sick with the Flu and missing his mom and brother. Pray for Cody who has had some troubles with his surgery and is feeling somewhat better after some scary moments. Pray for Evan to have a wonderful time at home!! Pray for all the others out there who are fighting their own battles. Pray for those who will be missing their loved ones this holiday season.

December 5, 2006 Day +1,343 Day #1,041 off treatment
Everybody sing with me, “Oh what a night”. It was an awful night around here. Taylor goes to bed with a DVD playing. If he is asleep when I go to bed I turn it off if not I leave it on. Last night I turned it off .At about 1:45 I woke up to hear quiet crying. I really thought it was Logan and thought it was odd because Logan isn’t quiet, ever. I turned the hall light on and saw Taylor sitting up on the top bunk. He was so upset about it being dark. I think part of it was being on the top bunk, this is new to him as he has only started sleeping up there the past few nights. He was crying hysterically and coughing something awful. I asked him if he threw up because that was what it sounded like, but he didn’t. However, about 10 seconds later he did. I was in panic mode. Meredith’s instructions of what to be on the look out for were darting through my mind, his first ever Christmas musical was darting through my mind plus, how and the heck was I going to get to him on the top bunk in time! Thank goodness I have a pack rat son who had an empty cookie box in his room that he planned to cut up later. I grabbed it and threw it to him and he managed to get most of the mess in the box. Once the episode was over we discovered it was only snot and it was not sickness. Praises went up at that point. He was freezing and shivering. He got in our bed and we turned on our heated mattress pad. Soon he was back asleep and burning up. I then had to sit and wonder was he burning up from being snuggled in between Jim and I plus the heater or was it fever. Needless to say there was no more sleep for me. I went to the couch for a while as he is a bit of a bed hog. I went back because it was darn near freezing. He felt much cooler with the heat off and me gone. I finally fell asleep at about 4:30, so I was none to happy with the alarm at 6:00. I got up and started getting ready and Taylor came in the bathroom crying saying he didn’t want to go to school. He NEVER says he doesn’t want to go to school. I wrote his teacher a note and asked her to keep a close eye on him. I called to check in him and he was okay. I picked him up and she said he did great. He doesn’t seem himself, but I honestly think it is more me than him. He snacked all afternoon just as he usually does. He was very excited about his Christmas musical tonight.

We arrived at an already packed civic center at about 6:00. Taylor’s teacher told me not to bring him up on stage to sit quietly until closer to 7:00, but he wanted to go with his friends, so I took him to the stage and left him. I went to buy some ornaments that were painted by students in art class. They are so cute. I also bought a chance on a stuffed monkey. The money raised for that went to St. Jude’s where our fellow NB buddy, Evan, is treated. Soon it was time for the program. My poor short fellow was kind of hidden, but we found him and we could see that he was straining to see us. He has had school programs at mother’s day out, but on a much, much smaller scale. It was cute to see him scanning the room to find us. We think he spotted us because he smiled. His class sang Silent Night and it was very good. I am not biased at all you know, but I think the kindergarteners sang the loudest and clearest. When the show was over we headed to Sonic for some quick food and then home for baths and bed. It was after 9:30 when the boys got in bed. I was a little leery at bed time wondering if Taylor would be sick or cough all night. I know I will not be turning the TV off!

Please be in prayer for my friend Sarah. Her son, Carson who happens to be Logan’s best buddy, is in Children’s Hospital with a staph infection. He had a rough weekend with limping and fever. You all know where my “cancer mom” brain went when I heard those symptoms, so I was a nervous wreck for her. He had surgery Tuesday to drain his knee and he will be in the hospital at least through the week as the cultures grow. Please keep Carson and the family in your prayers.

December 4, 2006 Day +1,342 Day #1,040 off treatment
Today was a good day. Taylor has not made any more mention of pain, so that is good, but you know I still worry. I emailed Meredith and she said persistent and progressive pain as well as fever, vomiting, bruising etc is a reason for coming in. We are just watching and going from there. I must say, I know that as usual, I am bringing all this on myself. However, I will say, it is hard not to at times. It has been 3 months since his last appointment, others have recently relapsed, others have been diagnosed etc. and it is those things all mixed together that send me over the edge. Anyway, be in prayer that it is just me being crazy and nothing more. Taylor did have one other problem today. When he got in the car after school he told me on the verge of tears that something was wrong with his mouth. I told him I would look at it when we got home. We had to go to Wal-mart and I forgot about it. When we finally got home he started eating a rice krispie treat and told me that it hurt to bite it. I thought great, all we need is a cavity or those caps to get messed up. I started looking and there was nothing that I could see wrong with the tooth he was messing with. I got to looking at where he was putting his tongue and realized that he didn’t realize he was pointing to a different tooth with his hand that with his tongue. I did some more looking and discovered that he has a loose tooth. Yeah! He then tells me he doesn’t want his “golden” teeth to fall out because he likes them. How funny. We have been brushing all this time telling him that the silver will go away if you brush good and now he doesn’t want to lose them. He didn’t like biting and swore that it hurt, but I know it was just an odd feeling not pain. He also cried and cried that the roof of his mouth hurt only to describe it as an itch that wont go away. I tell ya, it is hard to worry over his pains when it is obvious that he doesn’t always distinguish between pain, itch, etc. He is excited, but has said this tooth will fall out and not be pulled! December 3, 2006 Day +1,341 Day #1,039 off treatment

Today we all went to church where we had a guest speaker, The honorable Drayton Neighbors. He gave a good message. After church we went and ate a quick lunch and headed to the Camp SAM Christmas party. It was great fun as usual. The kids loved making their own ice cream Sundays. They loved seeing old camp buddies. It is amazing to me how big everyone is getting. Our dear friend Zach who treated with us and was always so tiny and frail in clinic, is now a big, strapping, 10th grader. Wow! It is amazing. Logan has buddies too. Our dear friend, Sarah Anne an ALL survivor has a little brother who goes to school with Logan. Jonah and Logan are best buddies, so they had fun. Taylor was sad that Calvin didn’t get to come, but was glad to see Brenden his camp buddy from Tennessee that comes with Dr. Gracious. The boys had trouble standing in line for Santa, but we finally got there. Taylor got a bag full of goodies, but the cool car and power ranger were the hits. Logan got a Thomas the train set and was very eager to get home and play with it. Thank you camp SAM for ALL you do. We love you all!

After the party we went to Guh’s house and ate dinner. We set up the train set that I had hoped would stay at her house, but Logan was having no part in that. Once we got home it was off to bed.

December 2 , 2006 Day +1,340 Day #1,038 off treatment
Today the boys and I went shopping with Temperance and Christian. It is always interesting when we get all 3 of them together. It was not too bad though and we did get a lot done. After we shopped a few hours we all split up and headed for home. I let the boys play for a while then put Logan to bed. Taylor and I cleaned out his room, again. I am so tired of the mess, but what can you do? Jim was hunting all day and didn’t get home until late. He witnessed and barely missed being involved in a very bad car crash on the way to the hunting club this morning. God blessed all involved and no one lost their life.

Taylor started saying his hip was hurting which sent me into over drive. However, just as quickly as it started it stopped and he was running, jumping etc, so who knows what it is. Please be in prayer that it is nothing more than growing pains. I have said it before and will say it again, cancer kids should be spared normal illnesses.

December 1, 2006 Day +1,339 Day #1,037 off treatment
Today was Friday, yahoo. It was a good day. Taylor got to go to the store to pick out his prize. Just as I expected there were no power rangers. He chose some other toy that was cheaper, so it was fine. He played with it outside for a few minutes, but it was so cold today that he didn’t get to stay long. I went out with Temp this evening to a Pampered chef party. It was fun to get out for a while with the girls. We went by her house and looked at the progress. It is coming along and looking good. It was another great day with boring details!

November 30, 2006 Day +1,338 Day #1,036 off treatment
Mark your calendar. Tuesday, Dec. 5th at 7:00pm. McAdory Elementary school Christmas musical. It will be at the Bessemer Civic Center. Don’t miss it!

He did it! Taylor made it the entire month of November on green light. We wont mention that he had 4 days out of school this month He gets to go get a blue power ranger, although, it may be tough to find one this time of year. We will try. Logan had a melt down a few times today. I brought some baby riding toys to the school. My kids are too big for them now and they are just taking up space. I would rather someone use it than it sit and collect dust. Well, Mr. I haven’t touched this toy in a year was very possessive of it today. Turkey! They had to put it away, so I guess it will still collect dust. Oh well, I tried! After school we went to the bank and the Dollar Store. He wanted to hear his new potty music. It is so funny! Thanks Gail, he loves it! Anyway, he couldn’t stop screaming long enough to hear it then he got mad that he couldn’t hear it. It was a big mess and he cried himself to sleep. Car pool was peaceful! He is still sleeping. He has done well all week in his bed. He tried my patience last night, but he finally went to bed. He gets up and opens and closes the door. He will throw baby out and then scream come back here. He eventually settled down. Nap time is what has amazed me, he has not given me much trouble at all. I guess I should give him more credit than I did about getting his big boy bed. Way to go Logan!

I talked to Meredith and Mrs. Thornton about Taylor’s learning and the need for neuropsych testing to see if treatment had any effects on his learning abilities. Right now we do not see anything, but we are all looking closely. I do not want to let anything slip by that he may need help with. Mr. man spent the afternoon painting Christmas ornaments and deciding who he would give them too. I blew him away today. He was singing his songs for the Christmas program and was having trouble with “Silent Night”. I started to sing it with him and he just sat and stared at me with his mouth wide open. He asked how I knew his songs, “have you been watching me on the tv ?” I tried to explain that it was a Christmas Carol and that everyone knew that song, but he didn’t buy it. He is so funny! November 29, 2006 Day +1,337 Day #1,035 off treatment

Only one more day in November, where does the time go. It goes faster everyday. I want it to stand still so that I can enjoy my kids and health. However, I want to fast forward 20 years and see what the future holds.

It was another normal day here. Taylor just needs tomorrow to get that blue power ranger for being on green all month. I hope he makes it. Logan got in big trouble today. I always un buckle him when we get to the car pool line and then I buckle him back up a few minutes before school lets out. I don’t know if he did it on purpose when he was playing or if he just hit it, but he undid the belt that holds his car seat in. I would never have noticed if Taylor hadn’t told me. I was so mad that I was driving around with the seat just sitting there. UURGH! He had troubles at nap today. Nothing major. He wants to keep the door open. This is a new thing, he has always had the door shut. I do believe it was about this age that Taylor wanted his door open too. Anyway, I tried to shut it and assure him it was day time, but he would get up and open it every time. I just didn’t want to disturb him, but he wasn’t having it. He left it open and fell asleep. November 28, 2006 Day +1,336 Day #1,034 off treatment

Another good day in Watts world. Taylor is heading for a complete green light November. Logan had a good day too. He also did great at nap time again. Yeah! He didn’t sleep as late, but that is fine. When he woke up he got up and came into the living room. He likes that, but so far he has not been out of bed any earlier in the morning nor has he gotten up at night. He still screams when he wants milk rather than getting up. I am glad. We went to eat with Gam maw and Paw Paw tonight. The kids wanted to go home with them as usual, but couldn’t and got mad as usual, but got over it. We hung out at home the rest of the night. I had to wrap some stuff and Taylor helped me tape the packages and pick out what bows and name tags to use. He loves that and I remember doing the same things when I was little. Logan just wanted tape to stick to his tractor. I did get the living room cleaned up and the dishes done, but the rest of the place is a wreck, but again, we are just stepping around it. We are having Christmas Eve here, so I better get it together.

I hate to bore you with these crazy updates, but this is life in Watts World these days. Blissfully normal. We are so blessed and I pray that we remain this way. Our little friend Cody has relapsed, he had scans last week that showed his brain tumor is back. Please visit him at Carepages.com and enter codymyers1. Evan is still plugging along on his protocol. The Dr. was able to lift their spirits back up. Hang in there guys! Madison is doing well. Remember, both these ladies could use donated time from teachers or school employees from the state of Alabama.

November 27, 2006 Day +1,335 Day #1,033 off treatment
Back to school. Oh, how I wanted to stay in the bed this morning. We got up and got going against our will, but we made it out of the house early. Taylor had a good day at school and was pleased to see he had made it through the entire month of November thus far anyway, with no yellow or red lights. Maybe he can make it 4 more days and finish off the month. Logan had a good day too. We went straight after school to Headstart and got much needed hair cuts for both boys. They look so much better. Once we got home it was nap time. I was prepared for a battle. However, I did not get one. I am so proud. Logan did great in his bed last night and at nap today. He played for a while like always but never got out of bed. I had to leave around 4:30 to drop something off. I just picked him up and put him in the car. He never budged. When we got back home only a few minutes later, I picked him up and put him back in the bed. He never budged and slept until 6:00. Wow! We hung out at home for the night. The house is a mess, but we sat around and looked at it rather than do anything about it. It was nice

November 26, 2006 Day +1,334 Day #1,032 off treatment
Another great day, how blessed we are. We slept late until the whopping 8:00. That is late around here. We just kind of hung out for most of the day today. We took down Logan’s baby bed and loaded it up. As much as I do not want to we are taking it back to Nana and getting the Fire truck bed back. Taylor tells me it will be a fight because he wants the fire truck bed too. He is a goof ball, he hasn’t had that bed for over a year. It is a toddler bed, he barely even fits. Anyway, Logan was excited yet a little scared too. He doesn’t do change very well. We headed to Guh’s where we ate yet another delicious meal. The boys played outside as usual, but they somehow talked the girls into playing soccer. No, I have never in my life played soccer, but I did today. Well, let me rephrase that, I ran around the back yard like a nut, but I didn’t play much soccer. It was fun though. We went in and put up Guh’s Christmas tree and watched a movie of Taylor’s first year of baseball. He was so tiny. It was so cute. Logan will play this year, he will be different than Taylor. Taylor was 6 months off treatment and so shy. Logan is mean as hell and will probably beat folks up. He gave Taylor a left right across the jaw the other day. He also walked up behind him with the cardboard tube from a role of wrapping paper and beat the tar out of him. Poor Taylor just balled up and cried. Taylor is a bit babyish, but Logan is mean. Logan is going to pass him in size very soon. Taylor wore the Auburn pants to school on one day and Logan wore them as soon as they were clean. They are 3 years apart. How funny!

We brought the fire truck bed home and got Logan’s room all rearranged. I like it, it is cute. Logan came around the corner and said, “uh uh”. I hope bed time goes better. He was okay with it once he saw that all his toys were still there.

It seems as though I am on a tangent and making no since. I better go. It is back to school and work tomorrow and we need to get ready to go. It was a nice break and it flew by. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

November 25, 2006 Day +1,333 Day #1,031 off treatment
I was up at 6:45, but I guess that happens when you are in bed at 9:00. We had more of the same around here. Jim is putting up doors and I am cleaning up. I tell ya, the boys mess up faster than I clean up and it is a vicious cycle. We went to my dad’s side of the family for dinner today. We do not usually do that and the kids had a ball. Joan let them climb in her tree and they loved it. Taylor even wanted us to leave him there. He doesn’t go or stay with just anyone, so Joan must be loads of fun. He had a movie date with Ghen Ghen, so he had to go. However, we had a wonderful time. Thank you Joan and crew! We went home and waited for Ghen Ghen to arrive. Taylor was loaded up in her car ready to go when Logan realized he was getting left and started to cry. He had been asked to go too, but didn’t want to. Didn’t want to until he saw the go. Ghen Ghen let him go and when she told Taylor he was going Taylor slapped himself in the head and said, “I know.” I was scared he would cry, but he didn’t. While they were gone I wrapped presents that they couldn’t see. If you recall their earlier find, I needed to get it wrapped. I have the other stuff safely put away. It was soon time to leave and meet the boys, Ghen Ghen, Gam maw, Paw Paw, and Bob at Costa’s for dinner. The boys had a blast at “The Santa Clause 3”. Logan fell asleep for a good bit of it, but he was good when he was awake. He told Ghen Ghen he was going to talk in the “moonie”, but when they got out of the car he said he was teasing. He is so silly! We all went to Gam maw’s for a while after dinner. Taylor and Logan talked Gam maw into opening a present. Taylor got a small video game and Logan an hot wheels sized gator. Taylor wanted to play the Cars game on the computer again, so he did that for a while. It was time to head home and both boys were mad, but they went without a fight. Lucky us, we had another great day.

November 24, 2006 Day +1,332 Day #1,030 off treatment
I had an early start this morning. I left home with the Gals at 4:00 this morning. I know we are crazy, but we are also done with our Christmas shopping. I was so tired when I got home at about 4:00. Temperance and I had big plans to go back out around 6:00, but it didn’t happen. I made my kids go to bed at 9:00 on Friday night. I don’t like to even be home on Friday night much less in bed, so you know I was tired! We had a lot of fun though. We ran into friends and went out to eat and just had a girls day out. The boys had spent the night with Guh and stayed with her all day. Luckily, it was nice out and they stayed outside pretty much all day long riding their power wheels and picking up pine cones and pine straw. Taylor is all about some yard work and he did not get that from his mama! They had a blast. Thanks Guh.

November 23, 2006 Day +1,331 Day #1,029 off treatment
Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for. I am so thankful for Taylor’s health and how easy his treatment was compared to others. He responded from the very beginning. I can not imagine the struggles that some our dear friends are facing. I am so blessed that we were able to stay right here in B’ham. I can’t imagine having to leave home and family for so long. The 2 weeks at a time in NYC were hard enough. I am so thankful for the fact that we have Children’s so close to home and for Sloan Kettering who took us in and loved as too. I am thankful for the fact that 4 years later that Taylor is still with us and doing wonderfully.

You all know we didn’t get through the day without a funny. I was drying my hair and Jim and the boys were outside. Jim was putting up the outdoor lights and the kids were riding their bikes. I turned the hair dryer off and I heard the kids in the garage below me. I didn’t think anything of it. I heard Logan say, “WOW” and for a split second I still thought nothing of it. I quickly realized that they had found my Toys R Us bags that I had hidden in there Monday night when I got home. Luckily, I got to them before they got more than the one bag. I told them they found mom and dad’s gift to them, but they still had prizes from Santa. I quickly ran with it to my usual hiding spot.

This morning was spent putting up the outdoor decorations. The kids loved it. They rode bikes and played in the leaf piles. They were filthy and had to be bathed and redressed before we could go to dinner and Gam maw and Paw Paw’s. They rode their riding toys outside once we got to Gam maw’s too. Jim found a Car’s the movie paint shop game on the internet and Taylor played that for hours. He loved it. We had some delicious food. After dinner all the girls mapped out their shopping plans for the following day. It was late when we got home and it had been a busy day. We all fell into bed.

November 22, 2006 Day +1,330 Day #1,028 off treatment
Good day to you all. We had a fun day today. It started at 6:48, yuck. So much for thinking Logan would sleep late. We finished the play room by about 11:30. It was a chore, but it is done. We have 2 of the smallest sized power wheel toys if anyone is interested. We have a bubble mower and a 4 wheeler with chargers. Both work great our boys are just too big now. We went by the Vet clinic and took all of our left over medical supplies. Hospitals can not use it, but someone told me that a vet clinic could. I stopped by the McAdory clinic to ask and it is true. Dr. Armstrong was so very VERY good to us and Taylor during our journey that it was the least we could do. So, there is an idea for all you guys that “the closet” with all the supplies that you no longer use. It was funny though when we went. The lady told me to sign in and she would be right with me. I smiled and said, “I don’t have a pet” she looked at me and my 2 kids like I was crazy. After our trip to the Vet we went to the Galleria to see Santa. It was about 12:30 when we got there and the sign said Santa would be back at 2. UURGH, I had not planned on staying at the mall. We went to get lunch and then walked around. I walked past Santa’s spot at about 1:40 and the line was long, so we went ahead and got in line and it was about 2:20 when the Jolly ole man finally arrived. Let’s just say that the kids were not so jolly at this point. Logan wouldn’t shut his mouth, so his mouth is wide open in the picture. He cried when we left because Santa didn’t give him his red tractor. He just doesn’t understand how it all works. He is upset now because he things Santa is mad. Poor guy. We will be getting the big boy bed from Guh’s house this weekend. I swore Logan would be in a crib until he was 18, but he has learned to climb out and I don’t want him to hurt himself, so the crib is leaving. I am sad! I am scared of what bed time and middle of the night wake ups will be like. Taylor was a breeze to swap over at the tender age of 20 months, but Logan is a whole new breed. Can you believe that he will be 3 in only 23 days. Wow! Logan slept in the Christmas Pj’s that Taylor wore the year Logan was born. They barely fit Logan. He is built different anyway, but Taylor was fresh off treatment and was a bean pole. It was funny to see the difference.

November 21, 2006 Day +1,329 Day #1,027 off treatment
Yahoo, it is the last day of school. We have big plans for our days off. We are cleaning the play room. What fun! We actually started today and got a good bit done though you wouldn’t know it. We had to make a run to Home Depot, we are still replacing doors in the house as a few at a time. One day we will have all these little projects complete. I guess them style changes and we will start over. When we got home the boys played and were thrilled to stay up late. I kept Logan up until after 10:00, so hopefully he will sleep late in the morning.

November 20, 2006 Day +1,328 Day #1,026 off treatment
Happy Monday! We all went to school as usual. It was a normal day with nothing unusual to report. Logan’s pants wouldn’t stay up, so the teachers made him some suspenders out of yarn. It was too funny, I have changed his name to Erkel. His class thought it was so funny they all had to get some. After school Logan took a long nap. I don’t know why he was so tired today. I met Guh at Toys R Us for some shopping. I finished my shopping for the boys. When I got home around 8:00 I had to hide everything before they came running to greet me. I made it!

Evan did not get good news from his scans. It seems as though his little body is not responding to treatment. His scans are basically unchanged from July. That is so hard to imagine. Please be in prayer that they can come up with some plan that will work. Pray for his mom and dad as they make some tuff decisions about his care. Madison did get some good news. Her tummy is handling the steroids much better than expected. She has resumed all meds. Please drop by and visit both of these families and let them know you are supporting them.

November 19, 2006 Day +1,327 Day #1,025 off treatment
Today we went to a birthday party for one of Taylor’s best buds. It was at Tannehill state park. It was cold, but it was not too bad. We had a house to go into with a fire as well as a camp fire outside. It was a lot of fun. Taylor has also expanded his wish list after seeing all the cool stuff the birthday boy received. Logan had gone to Gam maw’s house to the candle party and Guh brought him back home. They were there when we got home, so they got to play with Guh again. It was too cold to go outside, so they showed her all their favorite ornaments and Taylor drew me some new ones. We had some homework to do and had to pack a bag of 3 things we would take on the Mayflower. It was hard to come up with that, but we did it. This is a short week at school and we are so excited!

November 18, 2006 Day +1,326 Day #1,024 off treatment
War Eagle! What about that game? It was crazy. Gam maw and I went shopping after the first half, so we were in Old Time Pottery when we heard that Auburn had won. We got some Christmas stuff taken care of and just had fun looking around. We met the crew at good ole San Antonio for dinner. The boys were tired after a full day of bike riding and gator riding, but they still wanted to put the tree up. So, Jim and I hauled out all those HEAVY boxes of Christmas decorations. It took forever to get the tree up and shaped and they were getting very antsy. Finally, we started putting ornaments on. That was awful. They fought over who got to put which one on. They put them all in one spot. Logan would have 4 or 5 on one branch. He was so tired that he was being pure mean, so I put him to bed. He was mad, but asleep in a matter of minutes. Taylor continued to help, but before I was done he had laid on the couch and asked me to tell him when I was done. I told him to get in bed and he did and he too was asleep in minutes. I finished up and got everything ready to go back into the attic and then I too climbed into bed.

November 17, 2006 Day +1,325 Day #1,023 off treatment
Happy Friday. It was a good day. We all wore our Auburn gear to school. Santa needs to bring new jerseys to the boys, they are both growing out of theirs. Anyway, We had fun at school showing our school spirit. It was even jersey day at Taylor’s school. He said he and his “girlfriend” were the only two in his class sporting orange and blue. After school we headed home where we cleaned up the house and got ready to take all the Christmas stuff out of the attic. Guh came over to play tonight too. I ordered Taylor a Car’s dish set when school started and it finally came today. He was so excited. He ate a lot of waffles to get that! Logan embarrassed me at car pool. Our friend Joe, whom we usually end up parking next to was behind us by a few cars, so we didn’t get to talk to him. Well, Logan wanted to and he did. He hung out the window and screamed, “hey Joe, what up G?” It was funny, but embarrassing.

Our friend Evan had scans today. They will have to wait until Monday to get results. Please be in prayer that the meds are working in ridding his little body of cancer. Pray for all our little pals that are still fighting this fight.

November 16, 2006 Day +1,324 Day #1,022 off treatment
Hi all. Today was a good day. Taylor went on a field trip to Children’s Theater. He loved it. He recognized the BJCC as the place where Disney on Ice was, so when you asked where he went he said the steps at Disney on Ice. Which makes since in 5 year old lingo. He knew we walked those stairs to get out of the BJCC and he just went to the opposite side of the building. Smarty pants! Logan had a good day too. He sacked out on the way to school and slept all through car pool. It was cold sitting there today which was a welcome change from the heat we had in the beginning, but still not fun. I dread when winter really hits. All you northerners can stop laughing now. It was a cold 49 degrees here in Alabama today which is freezing to us. After school the boys and I came home and I did laundry while they played cars. Logan likes to play right in his door way. I don’t know why, but at bed time when he is begging to leave it all just like it is and I won’t let him, he gets mad. He has to have his door shut or he will never sleep, so it is not an option to leave it. They had a few fights and mishaps. Taylor is so very wild when he gets home from school. He was running and jumping and he jumped over Logan and kicked him in the face. Logan was having a melt down in his room a little later and he tripped and fell and hit the corner of rubber made box (time to put up summer and get out winter clothes) on the same spot that Taylor kicked him, so then he really fell apart.

All in all it was a good day. I am happy to report on natural sibling rivalry and things of that nature. Be in prayer for Evan who harvested stem cells today!! Woo Hoo!! As scary as it is, it is very necessary to treatment. Pray there are no cancer cells in his harvested cells. Taylor had some in his and we had to harvest again. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but there is a lot of planning and stuff that goes into it, so it is a bit of a hassle to get it all together, it would be better to be done the first time. Evan will also scan this week, so be in prayer for clean scans!!! Evan’s page. November 15, 2006 Day +1,323 Day #1,021 off treatment

Well, the nose strips seem to be working. He is not coughing as bad this morning and his nose is not near as snotty. I will keep my fingers crossed that this is going to help. He did not mind wearing it at all. We had to play with it to make it stay on, but we got it figured out. Today was Turkey and dressy day at school and Taylor dressed up. He was not happy about it at all. He pitched a really ugly fit about it and Jim was able to get him in it. I thought it was over, but when he got out of the car at school he looked back at me and said, “I still hate this shirt” and slammed the door. Well!!! I went on to school and had a good day. I had to leave early to go eat with Taylor and see his little program his class put on. It was so cute. They were Indians and they sang some songs. All the songs were cute. My favorite part was when they played America with bells. They all had colored bells and the teacher had flash cards to tell them when to ring it and how many times. They must have worked hard because it was so good. I was so proud of him, all of them. After the program we all took pictures of our child in the Wigwam. We then headed to the lunch room for Turkey and dressing. It was pretty good for lunch room food It was fun to see Taylor with his friends and to see my friends too. It is like being back in school for me since so many people I went to school with are the parents of Taylor’s friends. Taylor was swinging his lunch box and lost his grip on it and it hit the wall. I got on to him for doing it and then we went on about our business. However, when he opened the lunch box when we sat down I saw the damage he had done. He had knocked the top off the thermos of mac and cheese and it was all over everything. He ate some cookies since that was all I could clean up. Oh Well, what do you do? He could have cared less, he was too busy playing with his friends to eat.

Pop had come to get Logan from school, so luckily, I didn’t have to deal with him too. He was having fun at Pop’s house. I didn’t expect him to have any trouble going, but no one has ever picked him up from school before, so I didn’t know how he would react to that. He didn’t mind at all. He was a little upset when he couldn’t ride the golf cart, but it was a very stormy day. I picked him up at about 1:45 after I checked Taylor out of school. We played for a while then headed home where we all took a nap. Well, Taylor tried, but he couldn’t. It was so dark and gloomy, it was a perfect nap day. Taylor made a mess, but he played great.

November 14, 2006 Day +1,322 Day #1,020 off treatment
Today was a normal day in the Watts house. Taylor had to wear a shirt from a place he has been and bring a book about that place. He also had to write down the miles to that place and the person who had been the farthest won a book. I don’t think he had been the furthest, but he has probably been the most. He brought a Sesame St. book and wore a 2T NYC shirt. He didn’t have anymore that are in his size, so we threw a sweatshirt over the teeny t-shirt and went with it. He didn’t care. He was on green light which makes for about 11 days in a row maybe he will make it this time. He also got his progress report today. He had all satisfactory and needs improving marks. He needs to improve on sounds obviously and recognizing rhyming words as well as writing his name neatly. That one made me mad as he has known how to write his name neatly since he was 3 years old. He is just getting lazy. He also needs to write it with lower case letters. That one made me mad too. Being a 4k teacher I know to teach them to write it in lower case other than the first letter so that the kindergarten teacher doesn’t have to un-teach the capital letters, that is a very hard habit to break. Anyway, Taylor was taught to write it correctly and then taught himself to do it in all caps and now gets points off at school for it. Hmmm… Oh well, I wrote it for him and had him practice as many times as he could get it on the paper and he did great. If we will concentrate at school rather than rush, he will be fine. Otherwise, he is doing great in school. He has trouble with sounds, but some of it is not his fault. It is hard to produce sounds with no front teeth.

Logan had a good day. He actually did not sit in time out today. He played well with all his friends and didn’t leave others out. He has a bad habit of not letting others join him and he gets in trouble. I wonder where he gets that from??? I went to the do it your self car wash place today. My car was just a nasty mess. I was not going to put more than the initial $2 in, so I was rushing and I missed a few okay, a lot of spots, but it looks better. Logan told me he was going to cover his head up with Baby. However, when I got back in he said, “I like that, but don’t do it again”. He is a goof ball!

I spoke with the pharmacist this morning. I am trying to figure out what to do to clean out Taylor’s sinuses. The Dr’s can’t seem to fix it, so I thought maybe he would have some idea. He did! I bought some breathe right strips. They open the nasal passages and could help him drain some of that. He said it may not work if the narrowing is due to scaring from radiation, but it can not hurt to try. I am eager to see if it works. I am not too eager to see how Taylor reacts to wearing the strip.

Please keep Taylor and his continued success against cancer in your prayers. Pray for Evan who will be scanning this week as well as harvesting his stem cells. Pray for Madison who is still waiting on her counts to come up. Madison’s page Also, her mom, Beth, who is a teacher at Taylor’s school has taken a leave to care for Madison. If you are a teacher in Alabama and have days to donate so that she doesn’t lose pay or insurance it would be appreciated. You may also donate days to Evan’s mom, Melissa, who is also a teacher at Taylor’s school. Evan’s page These women are taking time off to heal their babies any help you can offer is much appreciated. Also, keep Mr. Chuck in prayers. His bones are not healing properly and he will have to keep his pins longer. Yuck!

November 13, 2006 Day +1,321 Day #1,019 off treatment
Happy Monday to you all. We have had a good day. Taylor was once again on green light. He got to wear a hat to school today for “hats off to reading”. He was excited he always wants to wear a hat. Logan is not feeling bad, but he can not stop coughing. I hope he doesn’t get worse. He is not sleeping good at night, but otherwise isn’t too bothered by it.

November 12, 2006 Day +1,320 Day #1,018 off treatment
Hi all. Today we slept late and then got up and got ready to check out of the hotel. We headed towards home, but stopped at the Arbor mall in Douglasville, GA to shop a little more. It was about 4:30 when we got home which was not too bad for a day of shopping and traveling. I got unpacked and cleaned up and we just hung out at home. We have watched cars all night. I guess it was money well spent, they have already seen it about 6 times. Taylor is all snotty and congested again. I am at a loss. He gets clear and it is right back. I am considering a new ENT and seeing what they thing. I have heard of stints and how that can help, but when I asked Dr. Hill he acted like I was crazy. I will see what our peds think and go from there. He needs some sort of help, it is ridiculous to be snotty all the time. I know most of you know, but I am not whining over a runny nose. This poor child has thick, green gunk all the time. He can blow his nose every 5 minutes and never run out. He has to be miserable.

November 11, 2006 Day +1,319 Day #1,017 off treatment
We got up on our own free will today although it was still fairly early. We got ready and had breakfast at the hotel with Ghen Ghen who met us there last night. The outlets were not open yet, so we headed to…. Wal-mart. We didn’t buy much else just killing time. We hit the outlets as soon as they opened. It was fun. We were in a shoe store that was way too expensive, so I was just browsing. I looked up when I saw a man trying to get a double stroller in the door. I just laughed and walked away and the looked back. It was my kids! They did their own thing with their daddy and we did ours. We met back up at the hotel at lunch time and headed to Dalonega. I have no idea how to spell that. We went to the Smith House. It is an old house that they found a hidden gold shaft in when they remodeled it. You could go look down the 21 foot shaft. The kids liked that. We ate there too and they liked that too. They seat you at big tables with other people and put all the food on the table and you pass it around like you would at home. The kids thought that was neat. We don’t pass around and if we have a family get together we usually have so many people that we just fix our plates and then go to the table. It was also fun to have so much to choose from. After lunch we walked up the street to the old stores and looked around. It was fun, but the temperature was dropping and it was starting to rain, so we headed back towards town. We went back to the outlets and finished up the last few stores. It was very cold by then and the boys wouldn’t stay bundled up like we had them. We went back to the hotel where they played hide N seek for the longest. They were getting antsy and had nothing to play with, but didn’t want to go home either. Jim decided to go ahead and leave. The boys were not happy and as much as I did not want to, I knew it was best. I had to bust out Cars the movie that I had bought for Christmas. They were happy as pigs in sunshine when they saw that. They watched it all the way home and never made a peep.

Gam maw and I settled in to watch TV and fell asleep. Jim called me at 9:30 Alabama time to tell me he was home and we were both sound asleep. I was awake by 3:00 in the morning and watched some TV then. I finally went back to sleep around 5:30. That was okay thought, it was nice to be in the dark all snuggled up watching TV for a while.

November 10, 2006 Day +1,318 Day #1,016 off treatment
Today the boys and I slept late. Once we got up I just hung out and watched TV. The boys were off in their rooms playing none other than hunting club. They both have play rifles and carry camo back packs and play. They love it. Anyway, I didn’t have to watch cartoons all day, so I watched junk TV. I watched Regis and Kelly, The Price is Right etc. Fun stuff! I finally took a shower around 11:00 and then cut the boys hair. I think it is time to suck it up and pay someone to cut it. I am no good at it and I always butcher one of them. I just can’t see paying $15 to cut a little boys hair. Okay, anyway, the point is, Logan has a lovely spot on the back of his head, but his hair grows so fast you will never know. I didn’t even touch sideburns he was being so wiggly. We soon loaded up and headed to Paw Paw’s. He watched the boys until Jim got home so that Gam maw and I could head for Dawsonville. GA to shop at the outlets. It was a nice smooth ride until we got to Atlanta and traffic was horrendous. It was rush hour and it took us over an hour to go 30 miles. We got there soon enough and checked in our hotel and hit the stores. We already had packages within in the first 30 minutes. We went for some dinner then found a Wal-mart. No trip is complete without a trip to Wal-mart. Yes, your assumption it correct if you thought I spent the most at Wal-mart. Of all the stores to choose from, I buy it all there. They did have some better deals than at home. We soon headed back to the hotel and watched TV and fell asleep.

November 9, 2006 Day +1,317 Day #1,015 off treatment
Another Friday for us!! We are out of school tomorrow for Veteran’s day. Taylor is so ready to sleep late. He never complains about going to school, but he doesn’t want to get up. The colder it gets the harder it gets to get him up, but I guess that is true for any of us. That being said, our plan is to sleep late tomorrow. Taylor had a good day at school today. He was on green again too. Guh met us at San Antonio grill and so did Ghen Ghen, Bob, Gam maw and Paw Paw. We also ran into several people we know, so it was a fun night. Guh came home and played with the boys for a while. They played hunting again. Taylor is very good. He knows to be quiet and wait and how to hold the gun and aim etc. The only unrealistic thing in his hunting play is that there is always about 30 dear in front of him and he always shoots them all A hunters dream I guess.

Please be in prayer for Taylor as he continues to beat the beast. Let us all sing praises for Morgan who just returned from NYC and had all NED scans!! Yahoo!!! Pray for Madison as she waits on her counts to come up. Pray Evan as he gets ready to scan next week. Pray for Davis who had emergency scans due to some pain. Once again, they got some great Thanksgiving news and everything was fine. Davis’ page November 8, 2006 Day +1,316 Day #1,014 off treatment

Hi all. Taylor had a very good day today. Daddy went to his school today to show his hunting stuff, bow and talk about Thanksgiving and the Indians. He even brought some deer meat with him for them to taste. He has been cooking tenderloin like this all of Taylor’s life and Taylor would never even taste it. He tasted it at school and has been begging for it all day. He even wants it in his lunch tomorrow. How funny! All the kids loved it. We were going to have it for dinner tonight, but by the time Taylor snacked on it there was not enough left. Oh well! I am just glad he is venturing out and tasting things. Once I picked him up from school we just went home and hung out. He played outside for a little while. He loves riding his bike. He loves his big bike, but has trouble getting on by himself therefore he loves his little bike that he can get on easily. He gets mad that I won’t let him fly down the hill on it anymore. He did okay with the training wheels, but I am afraid he won’t stop or lose his balance. I guess I better get used to skinned knees with a wild boy. Well, that is all there is to report today.

November 7, 2006 Day +1,315 Day #1,013 off treatment
Election day. It is always rough on us at school since out church is a polling place. We had to stay in our class the entire day with no gym time and since it was raining there was no playground time either. It was harder, but not too bad. We did a lot of art, they will not want to color for a week! Logan slept through car pool. The last time he did that he ended up with fever. I certainly hope he does not get sick. I picked Taylor up and his first words were, “green light”. He is so proud. He paid a dollar to United Way to wear a hat to school today. He wore his Mickey ears from Disney on Ice and his table buddy broke them. I felt bad, not just to the $10 we spent on them down the drain, but he spent his own dollar to wear the hat and it was his brand new hat. However, I had told him to pick a different hat and he wouldn’t have it, so I guess he will have to pay the price. I guess I could explain the hat thing. They can pay a dollar each day to wear a hat and the money goes the United Way. He used his own money to do it. I don’t know if he will do it again tomorrow or not after his problems today.

Be sure to read over the last few updates. There have been a lot of things going on. The McColeman’s lost their home to a fire. Evan is gearing up for stem cell harvest. Madison has been battling falling counts, but they have finally risen. However, now both sisters have strep throat and must say away from her for a few days. Morgan is in NYC as we speak doing her scans and BM’s. Colette is back in the ‘ham for a check up due to fevers. Amber is home and feeling better despite leg pains. Please keep all these folks and the many more in prayer.

November 6, 2006 Day +1,314 Day #1,012 off treatment Hi all, here we are back at Monday. Taylor is still very snotty, but we have been irrigating his nose several times a day. He hates it, but it works so well. He is fine for a few hours before it starts to build back up. We will keep it up and hopefully he will finally get it all out. Logan has a sick friend in his class and I hope that he does not get it and share it with us. We had to go buy an arrow head for Taylor. He and daddy are doing a little presentation at school Wednesday on hunting and Indians etc. He is very excited that daddy will be going to talk to his class. Taylor was on green light again. We seem to be back on our streak and I hope it stays that way. He is a wild Indian at home, but I want him to behave at school. Today’s homework was to research and get an Indian name. Taylor picked Minko which means chief in Choctaw. He wanted captain and that was the best I could do. He had to write the word, but I don’t know what they will do with it at school. He never tells us. I had the kids bathed and fed by 6:00. I was going to be ready for the CMA’s when they started and I was. Mr. Logan got put to bed early for not listening. He wasn’t doing anything so awful, but he simply refuses to obey and I had had it and put him to bed. He was still awake at 10:00, but he was quiet. Taylor went to bed at regular time with the usual stalls and protests, but he was asleep in about 10 minutes.

Please remember Morgan who went to NYC today for routine scans. Pray she has all clear scans. Pray for the McColeman’s as they build their house back. Pray for Madison whose counts have finally started to rise!!! Pray for Evan who is finishing up chemo and preparing for his stem cell harvest. Pray for Taylor as he continues to beat the beast! Pray for all the families out their fighting their own battles or missing a loved one.

November 5, 2006 Day +1,313 Day #1,011 off treatment
Today I stayed home and cleaned up the house and did a million, or so it seemed, loads of laundry. The boys went to the hunting club with daddy and Paw Paw. I didn’t do anything to speak of today. It was nice to be alone. I love my family dearly, but sometimes you need the time. Ya know what I mean? We did Taylor’s homework tonight and read his book. He is keeping track of books he reads for the month of November. I hate to tell you all that that is all I have to say today. Can you believe it?

November 4, 2006 Day +1,312 Day #1,010 off treatment
Hi all. We had a great day. We slept late then we just kind of hung out at home until 12:30 when we headed to Zaxby’s for lunch. After our lunch we headed to the civic center for Disney on Ice. It was a great show. Thanks Ghen Ghen and Bob. Logan was really into it. He usually is asleep or afraid, but the Disney boat shows really sparked his interest and he is always asking to go to the show. He was a little afraid a few times especially when the whale ate Gepatto and Pinochio. He hid his face, but not for long. They did It’s a small world and had people acting like the dolls in the ride. A girl did the hoola right in front of us and Taylor couldn’t take his eyes off of her It was funny! Both boys were very excited when Buzz and Woody came out. Logan said hey to Goofy and was hurt that he didn’t talk back The show was soon over and we ran back to out awesome parking place and hit the road before the traffic got backed up. We went back to Wal mart where the security folks probably think we are crazy. The boys were going ape to buy everything in site, so I told them that the black bubbles in the ceiling which really house cameras were Santa bubbles. That is where he sits to watch and see if boys and girls are being good and to make a list of the toys that they like. Every toy the liked they showed to the bubble, pointed at it and said, “Santa I want this”. It was funny. It worked though. We went to Best Buy too and they tried it there too.

November 3, 2006 Day +1,311 Day #1,009 off treatment
What a day! We got to school early and got everything ready for our trip to the bat cave as the kids were calling it. Jim and I loaded up our group of 5 on the bus and waited to leave. One of the teachers came on and said that we were not going. We just knew she was kidding, but she wasn’t. We unloaded all the kids most of whom were now crying. It was an absence if they left, so we left Taylor at school. He didn’t mind, he is so well adjusted, but I guess you have to be after all he has been through. He as disappointed and he is even more upset that it was rescheduled for March 16th. Today was the closing day of the caverns, so there was no way to get in any sooner. Oh well. We will try again. It was so cold, I can’t say I was completely disappointed that we didn’t get to go. We went to pick up Logan and just ran some errands that had to be done. We went to pick up Taylor and he said that he had fun at school. They don’t bring back packs to school on field trip days and so they didn’t have much to do. They went to the playground for a long time. We went home to get ready for out pictures tonight. We met Gam maw and Paw Paw for dinner. We went for our pictures and they turned out great. It was interesting. They never looked at the same spot and never smiled at the same time, but we still got some good ones. We were in a hurry and threw matching pj’s on them and we did it backwards. It turned out to be so funny. They were supposed to be hugging, but instead Taylor is pointing at Logan and Logan is pulling his finger with this goofy face. Yes, we bought it. I will have to get Jim to load them on here soon. We ran to Wal mart while they printed. That is the coolest thing about Portrait Inovations, you get them in about 30 minutes. We ran back by and picked them up and headed for home.

November 2, 2006 Day +1,310 Day #1,008 off treatment
Guess what? I have nothing to share today. It is just an average day in the Watts house. We made lunches and packed bags for our field trip and Logan’s stay with Pippy. Guh came over to play for a while. Taylor made a funny. He and Guh were playing hunting and Guh shot 3 deer. She told Taylor he had to clean them since she shot them. He took off looking for something and came back with a piece of cloth and said, “this can be my wash wrag.” Ha, he was going to bathe it to clean it. I laughed so hard. He didn’t know what it meant. After Guh left we went to bed to get a good nights sleep. We have to be up early tomorrow. Logan has to be dropped off at Pippy’s by 7:00 and we have to get to the school by 7:45 to head to Rickwood Caverns.

November 1, 2006 Day +1,309 Day #1,007 off treatment
Wow, November. Where does the time go? We were all tired this morning. It was yet another normal day here in Watts world. Logan and I went to the Dollar store and bought some stuff for Operation Christmas at Taylor’s school. I know Taylor would have loved to pick out the stuff, but I also knew he would want it all and then duplicates for him. We got some of each category, toys, school supplies, toiletries, hygiene, etc. They will put it all in shoe boxes and mail it to kids over seas. How sweet. After picking up Taylor we hung out at home. I picked up some and we just enjoyed staying home. We watched The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown while we cuddled in blankets. It doesn’t get much better than that.

October 31, 2006 Day +1,308 Day #1,006 off treatment
Happy Halloween!

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays. I guess part of it is just the kid in me that likes to remember the fun I had. However, most of it is due to the Halloween of 2003. Taylor was diagnosed in Oct. of 2002, so Halloween was spent in the hospital miserable as all get out. He was only 1, so he had never had a real Halloween full of fun. However, the Halloween of 2003 we made up for that. He was off treatment except for 3F8. We had gotten news that he had HAMA and we were on stand by to return to NYC. I was so afraid that it would be during Halloween, but luckily it wasn¡¦t. We went to Jim¡¦s work and he was Mike that year and his pouch on the suite was so full he was about to fall over. He was having so much fun and looked so cute. If people didn¡¦t have candy they gave him post it¡¦s, pens, anything to be sure he got something. We went to the Fall Festival at Gam maw¡¦s work and he was shy at first, but was soon running all over the place. We went trick or treating in several neighborhoods. It was so great to see him be a normal child. I always love this time of year as it brings me back to the start of us getting back to normal. Praises!!

We had fun today. Taylor wore his pilot suite that he got at Pilot for a day last year. He told us then that he was going to wear it for Halloween, but we assumed it was since Halloween had just past and he wouldn¡¦t really still be interested. However, he was very much interested and had a blast. He looked like Tom cruise in full pilot attire including boots and dark sunglasses. Too cute! Logan and I had a normal school day. After we picked up Taylor we went home where Logan napped and Taylor played outside. Ghen Ghen came by with some glow sticks to keep us safe as we trick or treat. It took forever to get Logan in his Mike costume. I finally had to just hold him down and make him put it on. I wanted to take pictures really, but he let it stay, so I didn¡¦t say anything. We went to Gam maw¡¦s house and ate some chili then headed out for some candy gettin¡¦ fun. At first Logan was not really into it. Neither were really, they would ring the door bell and then get as far away from the door as possible. They eventually got into it and had a blast. One of the pharmacist that made Taylor¡¦s chemo lives near Gam maw¡¦s house. She was about to leave and saw a bunch of kids coming, so she waited and luckily it was us. Thank you Kerri and Michael for waiting. Taylor felt so special . We finished up their neighborhood and were going to go to the festival at our church, but the boys just wanted to sit and play with the candy and that suited me, I was tired. We hope you all had a great Halloween and a safe one!

October 30, 2006 Day +1,307 Day #1,005 off treatment

Today was a crazy day. We had our party at school. Logan still did not want to wear his costume. He finally put it on when he saw that everyone had one on. We played some games and won some prizes. He loved it. It was much easier with only one. I usually have to try and do what Taylor and Logan want and it never ended pretty. However, today, with just one, we had a nice time. I think Logan liked it too. After the party was over most of the kids went home, so we had an easy day of playing and coloring. After school we got Taylor and headed home where I made Logan nap and get rested up for Taylor¡¦s school Fall festival. It was interesting. Logan wanted to be held and I wasn¡¦t doing it, so he cried and got in big trouble and sat in the car for most of it. He got to come back for a few games. I had to work the cake walk for the last hour. The boys played a few times then sat and ate their winnings. When it was over they raided what was left. We flew in the house at about 8:30 and jumped in the tub and threw them in the bed. It was hectic and tomorrow will be too, but it was fun.

I think Taylor enjoyed Logan being in trouble and going to the car because that let him have some one on one. He played games with out helping Logan or waiting on him. I think the best part of the night for me was seeing him interact with friends. You would hear Taylor from way away and then a big bear hug from a pal. It is funny to me that he has found the son of one of Pippy¡¦s good friends. They have no idea that the adults are friends, but they are the best of buds. Well, I better get going. I have lots to do to get ready for another busy day. Please keep all our friends in prayer.

October 29, 2006 Day +1,306 Day #1,004 off treatment
Today was a little slower. We slept late after a long day, but it was still early once we turned back those stinkin¡¦ clocks. We headed to Gam maw and Paw Paw¡¦s house where Gam maw tacked some stuff to Taylor¡¦s costume. The boys stayed to play while we ran to Lowes. A bird tried to give me a heart attack. The bird houses took up half an aisle and the Christmas stuff took up the other half and it was all right by the garden center door. There were birds flying all over the place. I was standing at the meeting point of the two when a bird flew out of the house. I jumped 10 feet. We were not gone 45 minutes or so before we headed back to the boys and were going to go eat. Well, in the few minutes we were gone, Mr. Taylor took his training wheels off and learned to ride his bike! We have tried in the past and he just couldn¡¦t do it. Well, He did today. He was still a little wobbly when we got there, but in about another 10 minutes he was off. He has to have help getting on and getting going, but he is good to go after that. He learned to put his foot down if he starts to fall, so no skinned knees were earned on this journey. He was so thrilled with himself. They say things always happen in 3¡¦s and I have to agree. A few months ago our dear Nb friend, Sarah, learned to ride her bike, just a few weeks ago our NB friend, Davis learned and now Taylor. How cool for 3 NB survivors to learn this at the same time.

Gam maw, the boys and I went to the outlets for a while. We had fun and the boys were pretty good. We had to go home and do Taylor¡¦s homework. It was decorating a pumpkin. It is very cute. He put pine straw hair on it and gave it a silver mouth with no teeth in the middle. How funny.

October 28, 2006 Day +1,305 Day #1,003 off treatment
What a day. I went to get the boys around 10:00 and we met Guh and headed to Moody. We never did find the place we were looking for, but we found better. We found a small fair and we played there for hours. They boys loved the rides. There was a huge slide that had 3 humps and a million stairs. Logan had to have an adult with him, so I walked that set of stairs way too many times. Guh had to do it too and she was not fond of the slide. I liked the slide myself. There were bumper cars that caused Logan to laugh with a deep, evil sound that we too funny. They dragon roller coaster was fun. Logan had a panicked look the first few times around then he started to smile and begged to ride again. He had a very smug look for most of his pictures. He was having fun, but you wouldn¡¦t tell by looking. Taylor on the other hand was all smiles. He loved it. We left for lunch and headed home and they wanted to go back, so we did. We got home around 4:00 and decided very last minute to head to Tannehill and trick or treat. We had not gone earlier due to all the mud, but on the way home from Moody the kids realized they didn¡¦t have candy, so we went. I swung by and got Christian and Temperance and off we went. We went about half a block and we then set still! It took 1 hour and 45 minutes to get in. Lets just say we broke sound barriers with the noise in my back seat! Once we got in we walked from the back side of the park to where all the action was. It was like Salmon swimming up stream. (Thanks Joy for the analogy!) We had about half a bucket of candy in about 15 minutes and all 3 kids were begging to go home. We were actually heading back to the car and getting candy at the same time, but it was such a long walk. We didn¡¦t have a flash light. We never thought about it. Last year we went early and was there all day and didn¡¦t have to park way out. We had plenty of light to see. Well, not this time. We had to make a hike back to Farley field in the pitch black. The only light we had was on the boys light up shoes Logan¡¦s only lit up on the left foot, so he stomped! He wanted to be carried and got real mad when I said no because then we wouldn¡¦t have any light. WE just knew they would all be asleep before we got out, but nope, they carried on like nothing ever happened. We went to Cracker Barrel to eat where they boys were actually very good. They ate good too, I guess all that walking did them in. On the way to drop Temp. off the boys were whiny and fighting, but about the time we hit the drive way they were all 3 asleep. We got the cutest pictures of them. They were all asleep in the same position in their car seats. It was sweet. Despite the headache of it all we had fun. We both swore we would not do it again, but I am hear to tell that next years update will read the same!

On a sadder note. We learned that while we were out trick or treating our dear friends, the McColeman¡¦s, house burnt. We were so saddened to hear the news after the recent loss of Bailey, our fellow NB fighter. Bailey was Chris McColeman¡¦s brother. It is also coming up on the anniversary of Chris¡¦s dad¡¦s fatal car crash 10 years ago. They have been through a lot and have a great attitude about the house. It will be a while, but the house will be rebuilt and they will be our neighbors again. Please keep this family in prayer. McColeman¡¦s we are all hear if we can do anything!!!! Please remember all of our friends that fight hard every day to win their battle with cancer. Pray for all the families that fight with the patient. Cancer does not just hit the patient, it hits everyone.

October 27, 2006 Day +1,304 Day #1,002 off treatment
TGIF, again. Logan and I are home today.

Well, Mr. Logan woke up cool as a cucumber. I stayed home with him just in case he did have something that we didn¡¦t need to spread. I hope it was a fluke and I am not putting off a visit that he needs. Taylor was on green light again today, but he had to mark number 1 on his chart rather than 23. Oh well, he will learn. The Fall Festival for his school was changed to Monday due to all the rain today, so we have no plans for the evening. Taylor was kind of sad, but he got over it. We met Gam maw for dinner with no intentions of her taking them, so we had no bags are anything. They talked her into spending the night with her and I told Logan he had no diapers. He screams, ¡§yes I do have a diaper on my butt!¡¨ He is a hoot. We went to get some clothes and dropped them off to them. They had already made a nice mess for Gam maw just in the few minutes we were gone.

Please keep Madison in your prayers. Her counts are still dropping and they fear relapse. Please pray that there is another reason for her numbers to off and that she can stay on her maintenance chemo and finish her protocol. Madison¡¦s Page Please keep Evan in prayer as he and mom, Melissa, travel back to Memphis and start his next round of chemo. Keep Amber in prayer as she does radiation and moves on from her scare last week. Pray for Zach a newly diagnosed leukemia patient who happens to be my best friends cousin.

October 26, 2006 Day +1,303 Day #1,001 off treatment
Today was another day. Logan has been very mopey today and has not been himself. He took a very long nap and woke up with a 101 fever. Great! He still ate and played okay just had fever. I am not sure what it going on. Please pray it is nothing big. Taylor ruined his streak today. He had 22 days on green and was only 3 school days away from a blue power ranger, that was our deal if he could be on green all of October, but he was on yellow today. He was playing at nap time. If was anything like he was at home, I know why he was on yellow. He was so wild. He could not walk, but ran every where, he couldn¡¦t be still. He even wiggled when he pottied and yes, that made a mess! We were told by a survivor that it took several years for her to really feel good. I have to wonder if he really feels good now and that is why he is so wild or if he is just 5 and that is how all 5 year old boys are?

Logan took a very long nap and I had to wake him up at 6:00. He was burning up with a 101.7 fever. He laid around most of the night. I certainly hope that it isn¡¦t anything bad.

October 25, 2006 Day +1,302 Day #1,000 off treatment
Happy Hump day! We had a normal day. Taylor could not play after school since his room was a disaster, he got that cleaned up in several hours We just hung out at home and watched tv and ate chili. We have been waiting on cold weather for some chili. The boys played pretty good tonight. The thrill for today is that Logan has pottied several times. He tried to stand up like bubba, but he couldn¡¦t quite reach. He gets a star sticker when he potties, so he is trying so he can keep getting a sticker. This is the trick that worked for Taylor, so maybe we will be there soon with Logan. Oh how nice it would be to not buy diapers, I may be rich! Nah!

Please continue to pray for Taylor and his success against cancer. Remember all his pals too. Amber who is home, but getting radiation everyday. Avery who is still getting radiation. Madison whose counts are all out of whack and they aren¡¦t sure why. Pray for Carter who is back in NYC for a long stay. Pray for all the others, way too many.

October 24, 2006 Day +1,301 Day #999 off treatment
Today was filed trip day for Taylor and I. I rode this bus with him and his friends to the Shadow Lake Pumpkin patch. That was fun. No, really it wasn¡¦t too bad. I had a good group and lucky for me several kids in my group had a parent follow, so I had help. We played games and read books and did all sorts of stuff. I know Taylor loved being part of the story, he was the hat that went nod nod. He also liked stuffing hay into the shirt for the class scare crow they made. They named him Mr. Wiggles. We went on a train ride and a hay ride. There was a tiny hill on the train ride and the boys held their hands up like a roller coaster. It was cute. Most of the boys got a bat painted on their face and they all had their picture made together. Taylor got a bit jealous when I held the girls hands. It was funny because just this weekend when I tried to hold his hand he jerked away and told me no. Now he is jealous. Of course, he still wasn¡¦t going to hold my hand. We loaded up and headed back to school around 1:00. I checked him out of school and we went to get Logan. We ended up meeting the gang for dinner. Logan is still hoarse, but still doesn¡¦t seem to feel bad. Keep your fingers crossed.

October 23, 2006 Day +1,300 Day #998 off treatment
Today we are back to our normal routine. We all went to school this morning. It was red day for Taylor and he wore his knew Lightening McQueen shirt. We went to Wal mart after school and both boys grossed me out! All mothers would be totally grossed out by this, but the cancer moms are really dying right now. Taylor¡¦s shirt had a screen print on it that was kind of rubbery and sticky. He slams himself against the wall of a bathroom stall and shows me how it sticks. UUGH! Not to mention that he has been doing this all day at school. Then Logan decides he will shimmy UNDER the stall door across the nasty floor. Double UURGH! We managed to get our hands washed and out of the bathroom and finish our shopping. We met Guh for dinner at O¡¦charley¡¦s. Logan is not acting like himself and is a bit hoarse. I hope he doesn¡¦t get sick. I don¡¦t have time for a sick one this time of year. Other than our fun at Wal mart we have nothing to report.

October 22, 2006 Day +1,299 Day #997 off treatment
Today was a hang out at home day for the most part. Jim went hunting late in the day and took Taylor with him. Logan was a little upset that he got left behind, but he was fine once we got to Gam maw¡¦s and he saw his gator that has a brand new battery! She had a candle party, so while I did that Logan, Christian, and Brianna played on the gator. They were cute together and for the most part got along. Logan wouldn¡¦t let anyone drive, but he did let them ride with him, I guess that was good. It was near 8:00 before the boys were home. Taylor scarfed down the some food and went to bed.

October 21, 2006 Day +1,298 Day #996 off treatment
Today we went to the mall and to the toy store. We were just looking to get Santa some ideas about stuff the kids like, but of course there were many melt downs when we said no to buying something. I headed home and got the house picked up and got ready for my class reunion. We had so much fun. The boys had fun here with Guh. It was awesome to see so many folks that I hadn¡¦t seen in years. It was sad to hear of those who have left us hear on Earth. It was sad to hear that though we were the only ones who had dealt with cancer others had lost an infant son. We are now bonded more that before. Fear, heartache etc, can bond you real quick. It was funny how the clicks that used to be were no more, we were all friends this time around and we had an absolute blast. At times we acted like high schoolers again. We paid guys to sit with girls, we drank too much, we danced terribly and gossiped. It was fun! I can¡¦t wait to do it again.

October 20, 2006 Day +1,297 Day #995 off treatment
TGIF!! Even though we missed the first 2 days of this week, it made the week crazy and therefore long. The boys are excited to be going to a McAdory High school football game. It is part of my 10 year class reunion. The school has been remodeled and we will tour it and then go to the Homecoming game. I have not been to a football game at the school in years, so it should be interesting. It will be fun to see old friends. I don¡¦t know about ya¡¦ll, but I would go back to high school in a heartbeat. Taylor was also excited about a note that came home about fun activities for next week. It is National Say No to drugs week. Monday they get to wear red, Tuesday is a field trip so no crazy clothes, Wednesday is crazy tie day, Thursday is crazy sock day, and Friday is favorite team jersey day. He is already pulling out socks and picking out a tie from Jim¡¦s closet. Too funny!

Well, we went to tour my old school. It was nice to see the new facility that is way nicer than anything we ever had when we were there. It was great to see old friends and meet their families. It was so cold and I knew that the kids would want to go 5 minutes after we got there and it would be a waste of money, so we didn¡¦t go to the game. Both boys cried and cried and I felt awful, but I knew it was for the best. We went to eat with Chris, Temp and Christian. The 3 boys had a blast being together although they were none to happy about how long it took. After dinner we headed home and hit the bed. It was cold and a good night to snuggle up.

October 19, 2006 Day +1,296 Day #994 off treatment
Be sure to sign Taylor's Guestbook sometime this week. I have been working on several measures to stop people from spamming his guestbook while at the same time making it easy for people to leave Taylor's Posts! Hopefully the new guestbook will accomplish that! So please be sure to sign his guest book some time this week. To sign, simply click here: Sign Taylor's Guest Book Pictures from Taylor's Cruise can be found here: http://www.taylorwatts.org/photogallery/cruise2006/. We will also post larger sizes of these pictures soon so that they are easier to see and look at, plus add more pictures from our trip.

pictures from the Gov. Mansion are up now!!

Taylor got his first report card today. Yet another average thing that his huge for us. He had good ¡§grades¡¨ too. They only get s for satisfactory or I for improving. He had s on everything except and I on recognizing beginning sounds, but I guess it is hard to do when you can¡¦t say them. We were very proud of him. He also came home with a Citizen of the Week award. Wow, talk about coming a long way from being on yellow everyday for a week or so to getting an award! Way to go Taylor. We have put a calendar up and he gets to write the number of days he has been on green and today we wrote 18. He is working for 100 and that is his goal, not mine. I thought maybe we would work on a week or maybe a month at a time, but he is shooting for the year! Hey, whatever works! He is so wired, I have been calling him Hammy and those of you who have seen Over the Hedge will get that. He couldn¡¦t even stand still to potty, he was just a wiggling. He has run every where he went and screamed every word that came out of his mouth. I don¡¦t know why, but it is funny and annoying all at the same time!

October 18, 2006 Day +1,295 Day #993 off treatment
Back to school. It was hard to get up this morning after sleeping in for 5 days. Once Taylor was up he was ready to go. He loves school and was excited to get back in the swing of things. He is still milking the leg and I watched him run with Logan last night and he walks fine if he thinks you are not looking. I finally had to tell him to get over it. He got in the car after walking to the car normally and told me it felt better. He played outside for a while and then came in and played and then decided it hurt. I don¡¦t doubt it is a bit sore, but he can get over it now. Meredith called me and told me how to get our dental records, so hopefully it will not be a big ordeal. I hope not, I am not in the mood to fight with them. That is about all the news there is today. It was just a day of getting back into routine. I think we did it pretty good. Please keep all of our friends in your prayers as they continue to battle their own battles. Please keep Taylor in your prayers as well.

October 17, 2006 Day +1,294 Day #992 off treatment
Today started out fun. The power went out at some point during the night. I woke up when the carbon monoxide detector started beeping. It beeps every time it is turned on and the power was flickering on and off before it went off completely. It was very annoying! I never did go back to sleep. Taylor came in the room to tell me he couldn¡¦t see! I usually hear him coming, but not this time and I couldn¡¦t see him, so when he said ¡§mommy¡¨ I about jumped out of the bed. He climbed in bed with us and proceeded to sleep soundly on top of me. Logan woke up around 5:45 to tell me it was dark in his room. I couldn¡¦t make him understand that there was nothing I could do about it. The power finally came back on at about 6:30 and Logan screamed, ¡§my light is on¡¨. I had to go to the dentist today. Jim took an early lunch and kept them while I went in. They ran to the store and looked around a while. I had no cavities thank goodness, so I am clear until April. I have made appointments for both boys with Dr. Moutlon, our dentist. I am not real pleased with Children¡¦s dental clinic. They will both be seen in January. I have called to have his records sent from Children¡¦s, but I was told that it was be ¡§like pulling teeth¡¨ to get them to send it. For some reason UAB doesn¡¦t like to share. Oh well, I guess we will see what happens.

I called several weeks ago to make the boys a flu shot appointment. I was not real pleased with the attitude of the woman I spoke with, but I let it go. I told her that Taylor had asthma and had a big medical history and did he need to wait that long to get the shot, they were scheduled to get them on Thursday. She told me no, he didn¡¦t get special treatment. I am not looking for special treatment, I just want him to be protected. Anyway, I got home today to find my message telling me they had cancelled the appointment for Thursday. I called to find out why and they have run out of the shot. I asked what I was supposed to do with my high risk child. It was all I could do not to slap her through the phone when she answered. ¡§there is nothing I can do, he will just have to wait.¡¨ I told her to tell the Dr. to call me. She told me that Dr¡¦s don¡¦t call patients that a nurse could call me, I said no, HE will call me. Within an hour he had called. I am not upset that the shot has run out, that happens and they have no control over that, but to be so rude even when I explain his situation is what had me so mad. He miraculously had 2 doses available and within 2 hours I had both boys a shot and was back home! I hate to have to be ugly, but when it comes to Taylor¡¦s health, I will fight. I told him not to worry about Logan, but he went ahead and gave him one too.

We went out to dinner with Gam maw and Paw Paw. Taylor was excited to see some friends from school. He is so shy that he acted like he didn¡¦t know them then talked about them all night long. We call came home and watched Over the Hedge. Too funny! Logan has not been bothered by his shot, but Taylor is walking like he has an old war wound. He is such a drama king!

Please keep Taylor in prayer. Pray for Amber who has been moved to a regular room after a stay in ICU due to a blood clot. Poor girl just can not catch a break. Ambers page Also, remember Molly as she has an MRI tomorrow to check out some symptoms she has been having. Mollys page Keep all of our friends in your prayers.

October 16, 2006 Day +1,293 Day #991 off treatment
Today was a stay at home day for us. We never even got out of our pajamas. We had to put shorts on top of Logan¡¦s pants so he would have a pocket. He dug them out of the ¡§too little¡¨ pile and was adamant that he was wearing them. The kids played pretty good today. They had a few little run ins with each other, but not too bad. There was a steady mist all day outside and they couldn¡¦t really see it, so they were mad all day that they couldn¡¦t go outside. I think they both enjoyed just hanging out all day with no baths to take or rooms to clean, we really did nothing. Once daddy got home we did more of the same. We watched TV listened to the rain that was getting harder and harder. Logan had to go to bed at regular time since he was in trouble as usual. Jim was trying to talk to him about something he did and he looked him dead in the eye and said, ¡§okay, okay, okay!¡¨ Boy oh boy, are we in for it with that one! We are out of school tomorrow, but we have things to do, so no more sitting around. Until then¡K

October 15, 2006 Day +1,292 Day #990 off treatment
Be sure to sign Taylor's Guestbook sometime this week. I have been working on several measures to stop people from spamming his guestbook while at the same time making it easy for people to leave Taylor's Posts! Hopefully the new guestbook will accomplish that! So please be sure to sign his guest book some time this week. To sign, simply click here: Sign Taylor's Guest Book Pictures from Taylor's Cruise can be found here: http://www.taylorwatts.org/photogallery/cruise2006/. We will also post larger sizes of these pictures soon so that they are easier to see and look at, plus add more pictures from our trip.

What a day. We stopped at Chili¡¦s for some yummy lunch. We then met the Camp gang at the hospital for a bus ride to Montgomery. We went to Governor Bob Riley and First Lady Patsy Riley¡¦s house for a fall festival. It was amazing. There was a huge white arch at the entrance to the yard and it had black and orange streamers hanging off of it. The kids loved running through it and making an entrance. There were games, cake decorating, painting, face painting etc. They got prizes win or lose and the kids loved that. Taylor loved the bean bag toss, he did that 100 times. He did the hoola hoop and who knew that he could do it? He was pretty good, the news crew filmed it, but it is a Montgomery station, so we won¡¦t see it. He tossed rings onto a spiders legs and onto coke bottles, he had is face painted with a big AU and a football. He threw darts at balloons and that took forever. They had plastic tips and just bounced off the balloons, but he finally got one. He did the sack race and loved it. It took him a few times to get the hang of it and not fall over, but he soon got it. Only 2 kids were brought back to the pool and guess who was one of them? You guess it, Taylor. It is shaped like Alabama. The Gov. was showing them where our cities were by pointing into the pool. I told him to paint the counties on the bottom of the pool. He liked that idea, so if you ever see the pool and it has counties on it, that was all me Taylor gave him a bracelet and he wore it. He thought that was cool. He played football with the kids and was so very nice to everyone. All of the staff that helped run the games and food tables were super nice. They had a huge jar of candy corn that we guessed the amount in it and the one closest one the jar. Taylor wrote his own number and wrote what he has been working on in school, 2006. Can you believe that he won! There were 2,043 in the jar. He was so cute going up to take the heavy jar from the Gov. We got a cute picture of Miss Patsy holding Taylor and the Gov. holding the candy corn jar. By the way, all the pictures are on the picture page so go check those out. We hit the 10,000 mark on our camera and all the numbers started over at 1. Do you think maybe we take too many pictures? Nah, you can never have too many!

After a wonderful day at the mansion and a catered dinner from Zaxby¡¦s we went into the mansion where the kids gathered around the piano with the gov. and sang ¡§This Little Light of Mine¡¨ while Chandra, a cancer mom, played the piano. It was so sweet! We then loaded the bus and headed back to the ¡¥Ham. We had a truly wonderful day with both new and old friends. Thank you to Camp Sam, Governor Riley and First Lady Patsy. Thank you to Zaxby¡¦s for the food. It was an amazing day full of fun filled memories.

October 14, 2006 Day +1,291 Day #989 off treatment
4 years ago today we sat in the surgical waiting room at Children¡¦s Hospital while Dr. Barnhart removed a tennis ball sized tumor and left adrenal gland from Taylor¡¦s tiny, 1 year old body. Once again, the memories of that day are very vivid. He was so excited when we got there. Why wouldn¡¦t he be? He was in comfy pj¡¦s, everyone he knew was there with toys and goodies and he had tons of riding toys to play with. He was having the time of his life while we were in hell. Well, today we had a absolutely normal day and I am so very thankful for that. Jim left home around 3:00Am to go to the hunting club and I got up to turn the heat on, it was freezing in here. I was woke up by the strange sound that immediately put my heart in my throat as it sounded like someone throwing up. I jumped up and there stood Taylor at the foot of my bed, sobbing because he didn¡¦t get to go to the hunting club! Oh my gosh! Once I got my heart back in my chest and calmed down over no one being sick, I calmed him down. We just hung out at home all morning until about 11:00 and we met Gam maw at the Galleria. The boys rode the merry go round and we did a little shopping. It was around 1:00 that Logan asked for his baby and we realized it was in the living room, at home! Oops! However, I must say he handled it very well and only cried a minute. We headed to Walmart where Gam maw got us some food and toys. They boys were about to bust to get out of the store to open their goods. We headed home after that and daddy was home too. The boys played outside for a while until a strange dog showed up and we called them in. I told Logan it was time to take a nap and much to my surprise he said, ¡§okay, don¡¦t take my pocket off¡¨. That means he wants to keep his pants that were stuffed with a cell phone, tape measure, money, block, keys, a soldier man, and a monkey. No wonder his pants wont stay up. He went right to sleep, he must have been tired. Gam maw came to get Taylor and took him to Jackie¡¦s house. Logan was still asleep and he woke up as they were coming back, so he never even knew he missed anything. Uncle Belton had a 100% blockage in his heart, so he has been in the hospital. Let us keep him in prayer as he heals from this. The rest of our evening was spent at home. We lit some candles, opened the windows and just enjoyed a nice fall evening. Then the football game started and the nice flew out the window! It was a crazy game and Jim and Taylor helped with lots of pacing and what not. It was very funny. Taylor stands up in front of the tv all the time and Jim get son to him. Well, Jim stood in front of the tv through most of the game Thankfully the Tigers pulled it out in the end! War Eagle!

October 13, 2006 Day +1,290 Day #988 off treatment
Be sure to sign Taylor's Guestbook sometime this week. I have been working on several measures to stop people from spamming his guestbook while at the same time making it easy for people to leave Taylor's Posts! Hopefully the new guestbook will accomplish that! So please be sure to sign his guest book some time this week. To sign, simply click here: Sign Taylor's Guest Book Pictures from Taylor's Cruise can be found here: http://www.taylorwatts.org/photogallery/cruise2006/. We will also post larger sizes of these pictures soon so that they are easier to see and look at, plus add more pictures from our trip.

Today is a stay at home today. It is cold outside and we are just hanging out. We did finally get outside and they played on their power wheel toys and dug in the dirt. Logan was so dirty it was funny. From a distance he looked like he had a beard his face was so dirty. We went to Wal mart where they were unbearably bad. It is so embarrassing to go anywhere with them acting like that. We called to see if daddy wanted to meet at the mall after work, so we went to Nana¡¦s to kill time before he got off. Logan started crying as soon as we pulled in thinking I was going to leave him. It took him a while to warm up, but he soon was playing with the same toys he goes to every time. Even after not being over there in 2 months he still goes for the same thing. We met daddy for Chinese food and then went a few stores and headed home.

October 12, 2006 Day +1,289 Day #987 off treatment
TGIT!! Today is our Friday since we are out of school Friday, Monday and Tuesday. Can you say Yehaw!!! I am so glad we get to sleep in and hang out at home on the first cold day of the year. It is 70 something today and tomorrow is going to be in the 50¡¦s. It makes me want to cook chili and just sit and watch tv all day. I had big plans to clean all afternoon today, so that tomorrow, I really could just sit, but you see I am here with you instead. Taylor had a good day today. I got tickled when he came walking to the car. He was in a Dalmatian ear hat he had made at school. It was so cute. When Mrs. Thornton opened the car door he barked at me. I have been given rules, if he has the ears on he is Happy and if he does not have them on he is Taylor. He is still on green light. That makes 16 days in a row! He is looking at a toy magazine and he wants it all!

Once again, I have left you with a less than interesting update. We have a very fun filled weekend planned, so I am sure more juicy updates will follow. Please keep praying for Taylor¡¦s success against NB. Pray for all his buddies that are still fighting every day.

October 11, 2006 Day +1,288 Day #986 off treatment
Taylor did not want to get up today. He fell asleep in the living room floor and I didn¡¦t realize it and when I came around the corner and said his name he jumped about 3 feet off the floor. He barely ate breakfast, he just couldn¡¦t get moving. We finally got him up and dressed and then he was ready to go. We dropped him off at school and Logan and I went on to our school and cleaned up in my classroom and hung some stuff up. That is always the longest hour for me. After school we ran home and made green kool aid and put it in a bug juice bottle. I can not keep buying those 99 cent things every day. He was not thrilled with the idea at first, but now he is pretty excited that he can make bug juice at home. We headed out the door for the car pool line. I checked his diaper right before we left since I have had to use my front seat as a changing table every day this week and then sit in the car with a smelly diaper until we get home. Well, sure enough, not 5 minutes after we got to the school he had a diaper full. I think he is going to go to first grade in diapers! After we picked up Taylor we went home for a while and then met the crew at San Antonio¡¦s for dinner. Logan refused to eat. He ate some chips at home and that was dinner. How terrible is that? The boys went to Paw Paw¡¦s for a little while after dinner then they were home for baths and bed. It was just a normal day at our house!

Please continue to pray for Taylor and his success against cancer. Pray for all our other friends who are battling their own cancers. Be in prayer for NYC. Can you imagine how scary it was to see that plane hit that building and all that smoke? The crash site was only a block away from the Ronald McDonald house. We walked past that building many times. Be in prayer for the family that lost a loved one or lost their home to the crash.

October 10, 2006 Day +1,287 Day #985 off treatment
UPDATE¡K. Today was a great anniversary day. Taylor brought some of his bracelets to school to share with his class and anyone else who wanted one. Mrs. Thornton let him walk around and deliver them to people. He gave one to Mr. Jackson and Mrs. Finney and Mr. Finch and he was quick to tell me he forgot the ¡§speech lady¡¨ and Mrs. Morales and he needed to bring more tomorrow. He is so funny! They even gave him a ¡§special day¡¨ send off at carpool today. How sweet they all are for recognizing the importance of the day. Unfortunately, our little elementary school is all too aware of the ¡§C¡¨ word. There are about 8 kids that have or have had cancer and a few that have had some benign tumors taken out. Be in prayer for all of our little friends that fight the good fight. I bought Taylor a prize today at the Dollar Tree. He was excited when he got it, but it is in his bedroom floor and he is outside playing with his monster truck. Logan and I had a good day today too. We had a usual day of school then we went to the Dollar Tree after school and to the post office. He calls the post office the Doctor though I have no idea why. I actually got to do something special on Taylor¡¦s special day. I went to Johnny Carino¡¦s with the girls and to DSW for some shoe shopping. Taylor was happy to be outside with daddy until dark.

4 years ago today our world was flipped upside down, changed forever, for the better. Does that sound crazy? I guess it does to some people, but it isn¡¦t. We have met people and been places we would never have met or been. We have some of the most amazing friends that we have met because of Taylor. Sure, we wish we had met them at a ball game or the school, but that isn¡¦t how we met them. We met them right where God wanted me to meet them. We are so thankful for every one of them. We want to thank God first and foremost for the miracle he has performed in Taylor¡¦s body. We thank Dr. Berkow and his staff at Children¡¦s hospital. We are very thankful for the fact that we have such a wonderful hospital right here at home. I can not imagine having to be gone all the time like we were in NYC. Those were the longest 6 months of my life. That leads me to telling our family how thankful we are for them being there every step of the way. We are thankful for Dr. Kushner and Dr. Modak and the staff at Memorial Sloan Kettering. We are thankful for the Ronald McDonald house where we lived in NYC. We are thankful for all of you who have prayed for us and supported us through this 4 year journey. We are thankful for the fact that you are all still praying and supporting us and all our friends.

4 years, can you believe it? It seems like a million years ago yet it feels like yesterday. I STILL remember every minute of the day he was diagnosed. I remember the clothes we were wearing, the words that were said, the rooms that we were in etc. I have forgotten things along the way, but that day was still very vivid. I guess it always will be. 4 years ago I would have never thought that I would be sitting here typing about kindergarten, football, pumpkin patches etc. I have learned a lot in this 4 years. I have grown spiritually. I have grown to trust others, to help others, to stop sweating the small stuff. I have earned a ¡§honorary medical degree¡¨. I have done things to my own child that I never thought I could do to anyone. We have given him shots, held him down to cram meds down his throat, crushed pills and shot them through his feeding tube, ripped out the feeding tube because we were tired of it and the list goes on. What a journey it has been. I treasure every minute and pray that we never again deal with the dreaded ¡§C word¡¨ again. He has beaten huge odds to be 4 years from diagnosis and be a perfectly healthy, normal child. Praise God!!!!!

Please take the time to read through the last few days. It has been a great week filled with many ¡§watts¡¨ adventures. Taylor has gone to the pumpkin patch, stashed meds under the couch, gone to his girlfriends house and much more. Check it out. I will be back to update on the days events. We do not have anything special planned. We are looking at it as a normal day just like any other. I did pack some of his bracelets to take to school and share with his classmates. I just want to bring awareness to the disease and our friends that still need our support. Please keep all the prayers coming for Taylor and his pals, we feel them and they are working.

October 9, 2006 Day +1,286 Day #984 off treatment
Back to school. Taylor was able to watch his principal, Mr. Jackson, do the Fox 6 news this morning. They were doing a segment on the Fox 6 Helping Schools which will be at McAdory Elementary on Oct. 21st. He thought it was pretty cool to sit in the drop off line and see the camera man and all people standing around. He was waving like he was going to be on TV. We can listen to Fox 6 on the radio, so we turned it on and listened. They did a great job. Come on out and help spruce up the school! Logan and I headed on to school. I was the ¡§cook¡¨ today. Mrs. Joy had to be out, so I did the kitchen today. It wasn¡¦t too bad at all. Hey, it was quiet with no kids in there! Logan and I even got to leave about 5 minutes early which was nice even though we had no where to go. We went to the car pool line and Paw Paw dropped Daddy off (they had been to the hunting club) and took Logan with him. Taylor was excited to see his daddy in the car when he came out of the school. He was also excited to see that Jim is going on a field trip to Rickwood caverns with him next month. After school we went to Paw Paw¡¦s to pick up Logan who was not ready to go home. He was washing Paw Paw¡¦s truck off and got me soaking wet too. Stinker! Taylor played football for a while. He can throw it pretty good, but he is scared of it when it comes time to catch it. He says he wants to play football next fall, but I am not so sure about that. He is so little! It was a good day for us, but little action to report to you all. That¡¦s just the way we like it!!

October 8, 2006 Day +1,285 Day #983 off treatment
Today was a fun day. We went to Sonic for lunch. The boys liked sitting outside to eat. They had to eat good to get a milk shake. They did pretty good. Taylor did better than Logan, but Logan did okay. He tried, I don¡¦t think he feels real good. His ear isn¡¦t draining as bad as it was. He still has runny diapers. I think he may be cutting some teeth, he is drooling really bad. He hasn¡¦t slowed down any just not eating real good. After Sonic we went to the Pumpkin Patch with camp Sam. They had a blast. Taylor got a bat and a spider painted on his face. Logan got a pumpkin and a spider. He did real good while she painted, he never moved, but he had a real ugly look on his face. Taylor rode a horse and got the giggles when it stopped to poop. Logan was screaming and wanted no part in the horse riding. Taylor didn¡¦t want to ride again, so we didn¡¦t use all our horse tickets. We went to the petting zoo, but all the animals were in the middle of their cages and you couldn¡¦t pet them. Logan did get to pet a baby donkey and he thought it was funny. Once again a bathroom incident it what got their attention. One of the mail ponies was tt¡¦ing and it was going all over the place. Taylor thought it was so funny. Logan kept saying that he wet his pants and then just cackling. We rode a hay ride over to the pumpkin patch and picked 2 big ole pumpkins. Logan wanted to hold his pumpkin, so he got mad when it was too big. He fell in the middle of the pumpkins and said he couldn¡¦t walk because his legs were broke. Too smart, but it didn¡¦t work, he had to walk. We then went to visit with the other camp families and the camp staffers that were there. We had a great time and we were sad to go, but it was soon time. We grabbed some dinner and headed home to get round down. That was easier said than done in fact both boys got put to bed about 45 minutes early because they were so wild. They were both asleep in no time. I made lunches and hit the bed myself. I must be getting old because I just can not get enough sleep. It doesn¡¦t matter how early I go to bed, I do not want to get up at 6:00 when the alarm goes off. Oh Well! Thanks to Camp Sam for another great day!!

October 7, 2006 Day +1,284 Day #982 off treatment
Today was a good day for us. We started it by going to a pottery party. The boys painted their finger prints on a Christmas ball and Jamie will make them into Christmas lights and fire it. It will be so cute. After the party we went by Pop¡¦s house and they played with his scrap wood for the longest time. We then headed for home where Guh was waiting to play with the boys for a while. We went to the Cracker Barrel for lunch. Logan didn¡¦t eat much at all and I put him in my lap and saw all the gook running out of his ear. He has an ear infection. Luckily, we have some Floxin drops and I started those. I hope that they will fix it without a trip to the Dr. for antibiotics. He doesn¡¦t seem to be bothered by it other than not eating and poo poo water as Taylor calls it. Taylor has been so excited all day long. He knew he was going to go home with Lu Lu after her game. She is a cheerleader. He was going to escort her today, but they changed the rules when few little boys wanted to do it. That¡¦s okay. He was kind of nervous, but boy it would have been some cute pictures. He went home with Lu Lu from about 4:30 to about 8:30. He didn¡¦t want to leave. I hope he was a good boy. He talked about all the fun they had. He said that Lu Lu had a lot of girl toys I am going to bring Lu Lu home with us one day, so she can play with our boy toys.  Gam maw and I went shopping for a little while. We actually were just getting ideas for Santa. Logan is so hard. He has everything since Taylor has already been through this stage. He also thinks he is as big as Taylor and wants what he has. We will find him something. I got a few ideas.

October 6, 2006 Day +1,283 Day #981 off treatment

TGIF! I am so glad it is Friday. Can you believe this weather? It was hot as blue blazes yesterday and today it is cool as a cucumber. We were actually rather chilly outside on the playground today. I dressed the kids in shorts, so I hope Taylor isn¡¦t freezing at school.

I picked Taylor up today and he was so pleased to tell me he was on green light for the 12th day in a row. Yahoo. I also talked to his teacher and he is Mr. Responsible and he has handled his 2 accidents all on his own and she never knew. We are going to let it go and see how he does with it. I really think he just gets busy and isn¡¦t going until it is too late. The 2nd day he says he just missed the toilet which is probably true, he rarely rings it. Oh well. We hung out at home on this cool afternoon. He played firefighter. He is really into that today seeing as a firefighter and a fire truck visited the school today.

Mr. Taylor got in some deep hot water this evening. Jim found half of a Sudafed pill under the couch and when we got to investigating under the couch and in the air vents we found 2 more pieces. He has been hiding it when I leave the room to get ready for work. No wonder his snotty nose was not getting any better. I was just beginning to think that the Sudafed was not going to work any better than any of the other stuff we have used. I knew that the last few days he took it a lot easier than he usually does, but I thought maybe he was getting used to it or maybe growing up a little and was just doing it. Nope. I was so mad that he waisted it and lied. I asked him Thursday morning if he took it because I had suspected that he was not taking it and he looked me dead in the eye and told me he took it. He even gave me a high five for being so big. My oh my, what are we going to do?

They have had several fire drills and tornado drills at school. I often wondered if it was scary to him seeing as he has never done it before, but he doesn¡¦t seem to mind it. What is scary to me is the drill they had this week. They had a lock down. They locked the doors, turned out the lights and hid in corners and under tables. They discussed that if a bad person were to get in the school this is how they would hide until it was safe. How sad that my kindergartener has to practice such a thing. I guess it is good that the schools are aware and are taking precautions, but it is a shame.

October 5, 2006 Day +1,282 Day #980 off treatment
Hi all. We have had yet another great day. Logan decided to run into the wall and bust his lip and get carpet burn on his chin, but other than he had a good day. I got his school pictures in and finally he got some good ones without baby in the shot too. I hope to get Taylor¡¦s back soon. He had to do makeup pictures, so I am not sure when I will get his. Taylor was on green light again. He also came home in his extra clothes for the second time this week. I am not sure why he does it, but he has spells where he has accidents daily. Is it an age thing? No one can give me a medical reason for it. Oh well, he handled it and wasn¡¦t bothered by it, so I am not going to worry either. He brought a book to school today to read to his class. It is a one word per page book and he just has the pictures memorized, but he is still doing great and is so proud. He brought home a book his did at school with a list of what activities they do on certain days and stuff like that. He had phonetically written his favorite thing to do at school. See if you can read it. Du sntrs. Do you know? It is do centers. How cute!

October 4, 2006 Day +1,281 Day #979 off treatment

Happy Hump day. This week is crawling by. I guess since I am all stopped up and taking meds that are making me sleepy, it is making the day seem so long. All I want to do is crawl in bed and sleep, but that isn¡¦t an option. Taylor was on green again. I certainly hope that this is not a fluke and that he has truly learned some self control and will be able to keep his cool at school. Logan was awful in carpool. He gets unbuckled and moves around until it is almost time for school to let out. I then buckle him up and we get ready to move through the line. Well, today he didn¡¦t like the idea and he threw his baby in the back of my SUV. I told him and told him not to throw it that I would not get out of the car and get it. He did it anyway and screamed for 20 minutes like I had beat him. I had to roll the windows up to keep from disturbing anyone. Mrs. Thornton came to the car and helped Taylor in and she got to see the real Logan. I brought him home where he continued to act that way in the bed until he finally fell asleep. I will say, at least he had a good day at school. He did not want his diaper changed and left the gym to go to the room and use the potty. He was wet, but he did potty. Maybe he has turned a corner and is ready to potty train. I hope!

Not so good news for Evan yesterday. His tumor is still touching some important arteries and they did not want to risk damaging organs or hurting in the long run. Therefore they did not get very much of the tumor out. You can go Evan¡¦s page to read mom¡¦s update and get more info. Please keep him in your prayers as he heals and starts more chemo to shrink the tumor. Hang in there Thomason¡¦s, God is with you. We have a new friend for you to check on. Nic¡¦s page That is about all there is for us today. Oh, Taylor is yet again selling stuff for school. If anyone is interested in Christmas goodies you can go online and look and call me to order. Money has to be turned in on Oct. 19th. Taylor¡¦s school sale I guess I will mosey back to my laundry. Fun!! I will update again soon. Keep Taylor and all his pals in prayer.

October 3, 2006 Day +1,280 Day #978 off treatment

Hello all. We have had a good day today. Taylor was on green light again. Logan and I have made a new friend in the car pool lane. His wife is on hospice care after a long battle with cancer. Please be in prayer for Donna as well as their 3 kids. Logan set off the alarm on my car today in car pool, how embarrassing. He thought it was funny. Taylor has tried on every costume he has to see what he wants to be for Halloween. He doesn¡¦t want anything new which is fine by me. He is outside now in his red power ranger suite. I know he is burning up. I think we sang our praises to the weather gods too soon. Friday was so nice and cool and today it is ridiculously hot for an October day. That is Alabama for ya.

Please be in prayer for one of Madison¡¦s mom¡¦s pals. Her house burned, cars and all. Please visit Madison¡¦s page for more info. Madisons page Also, Evan had his surgery today. I do not know anything yet, but please keep him in prayers. I will update again when I hear from them. Please keep Taylor in prayer. We are so blessed and I certainly hope that we continue to be this blessed with his great health. Pray Carter who will scan again this week. Carters page

October 2, 2006 Day +1,279 Day #977 off treatment

I have good news, great news, to start with today. First off, Sarah is BACK in remission!! Praises!! It is awesome that she responded this fast and this well. Relapsed NB almost always comes back, so she will continue with her treatment for a few months, but it is still great news!! You can stop by and visit her at Sarahs page Also, Evan had scans today and his tumor has shrunk and he will have surgery tomorrow morning to remove the residual tumor. It is a big, scary step, but a necessary step. Please be in prayer for his speedy recovery and the surgeons get it all. Stop by and leave well wishes at Evans page A little tid bit to share. Fox 6 Helping schools will be at Taylor¡¦s school, McAdory Elementary school, on Saturday, October, 21st. It will begin at 7:30 AM and childcare is provided. They will do painting, landscaping, construction and general clean up. If you are interested you can email me for directions to the school.

I think Dr. Berkow is trying to kill me. I emailed Meredith a few days ago about Taylor¡¦s urine tests. When I got home today I saw Children¡¦s hospital on the caller ID. I just assumed it was Meredith calling since it had been a few days, but when the machine started talking and I heard, ¡§hey, this is Dr. Berkow.¡¨ I about fell out. However, I am lucky enough to have a straight to the point Dr and he immediately said, ¡§all tests are normal, looks great and I will see you next time¡¨. Praises once again! All the cancer moms totally get that story, but for those who don¡¦t, the actual Dr. NEVER calls, so when they do you immediately feel your heart in your throat and brace yourself for the worst. Praise God that was not the case!

Taylor was on green light again today, that makes 8 days in a row. Yeah! He got his permission slip for the pumpkin patch field trip and he is so excited that I am on the list as a chaperone. We went to dinner with Paw Paw and Gam maw and then I went to Wal mart all by myself. That is so exciting! I just browsed around very slowly. I came home and bathed my 2 dirty kids and got them ready for bed. We are all snotty and feeling a little blah, but otherwise we are great. I will do my best not to get so behind in my updates, but it is hard now that we are so very normal. We thank you all for all the prayers and support. Please keep those prayers coming, they are working and we certainly feel them. Keep all our friends in your prayers as well.

October 1, 2006 Day +1,278 Day #976 off treatment

October already, where does the time go? Today I went to church while Jim kept the boys. Guh came over to play with them. She has been a busy bee these days caring for Mr. Chuck, so she had to see them for a bit. After she left they went to Pippy¡¦s house to play. They rode their 4 wheeler and gator for hours. Taylor loved riding his up the ramp to the shed and parking it in his ¡§garage¡¨. Logan rode around on the riding lawn mower. He then played in all the grass clippings. He again, was so dirty. After several hours of outdoor fun we went to Paw Paw¡¦s for a September birthday bash. The boys ate like pigs, but I guess after all that fun they worked up an appetite. They were not happy to have to leave. We usually would be the last one to go, but with baths and lunches to pack we had to go. I think that is what Taylor dislikes the most about school, having to be home and in bed by a certain time. Oh well, he has 13 more years to go