Sorry for the Lack...I'm Back!

Hey everyone who is so gracious to to keep up with our crazy lives!

I am ELATED to say that things have been going swimmingly these days! Pun intended.

Swimming lessons have been great after William's two week stint of crabbiness. Not sure where the crying came from, he was never scared of the pool but made it known that he was unhappy. We got to use life jackets last week which was fabulous! William has a super sweet one because his Godfather Cory spoiled him. He was so darn cute floating on his back and trying to get his toys in the pool. I am sad to say that tomorrow is his last lesson of this session. We'll have to sign up again, and hope that this summer is more "summery" than last year so we can hit the pools every chance we get.

Willy Poo has been wonderful in the health department lately too! YAAAAAH HOOOO! I just checked his ANC for today and it looks like it is 1,220. Last week was 1,521. (Bottom of the Normal Range is 1,500). We are taking him in for this test only once a week. We take him in on a "trough" day. A "trough" day is the day that he is due for a shot of his G-CSF. It means he should be at his lowest Neutrophil count and has the lowest level of G-CSF medicine in his system when we are checking his levels. Basically he gets a shot of the meds the same night as the test, so generally his Neutrophil levels are even higher than what we see on his tests.

He is incredibly energetic these days! Having a higher Neutrophil count will do that to a person. :) When you feel great you can learn new things and refine your gross motor skills! He is graduating from his goofy little butt scooting all over the house to crawling on carpet, rugs, and grass, and the occasional hardwood floors. He has been able to crawl for a very long time, but always chose to scoot around on his butt instead. I think he finally realized that crawling is much faster and he can get into more things. He is also "cruising" (walking while holding on to objects) EVERYWHERE! He traveled all over my parent's house today grabbing on to anything he could to keep moving. He only needs 1 finger when walking, and has tried to take a step or two away from objects he holds on to. Last weekend Paul yelled, "Oh my God Katie get in here!" I ran into the room with my heart in my throat to see that Paul discovered our boy climbing up the stairs on his own. By the time I got there he was on the 4th step. Look out Mommy and Daddy!


Our little baby doesn't look like such a baby any more which is so mind blowing. He's a pretty handsome dude though and looks a ton like his cousin Linden did at this age. One day I realized that their teeth have come in, in the exact same order so it's even harder to tell the difference in some photos. Linden and my brother and sister-in-law will be visiting MN from Bozeman,MT Memorial Day weekend. It is the first time since our wedding in '07 that all 3 will be here together; we are so excited. Can't wait for some cousin time together!

William's passions continue to be anything with wheels or things that spin. He has commandeered the neighbor's daisy whirl-a-gig so that it now resides in our grass and he will flip anything over to get at the wheels. I'm pretty sure he'll be moving on to lifting small vehicles to do this next! Anyone drive a Smart Car or Mini Cooper?

I was just talking at lunch today about the difference in our lives right now. Things have been really crazy with the end of our school years approaching fast. 14 days left with kids!!! I said though that when I start to think about a lot of the things we have been through this year I can conjure up this tightening in my throat and chest. I can feel myself tightening all over as if I am bracing my body for a physical blow. I realize now that for nearly 6 months I felt this way every second of the day, even as I slept. We were always on the alert and ready to head to Children's Hospital at any second, which we had to do many times. I know now what "Survival mode" is all about and I hope to not go back there any time soon.

I am so blessed that right now I can think about all of that, then take a deep breath and try to let it go. I think every day is a miracle for all of us. I also think it may take a long time to really come to terms with everything we have dealt with. I am finally realizing that my baby was VERY sick, that my baby has a serious blood condition that is still inexplicable... that my baby had surgery, a bone marrow biopsy, 2 hospital stays, many ER visits and trips to the Hem/Onc clinic, and countless pokes in every part of his body. Sometimes it would be so easy to be ridiculously upset about all this, and I think that would be the easiest way to react. I try to remind myself that there are people all over the world who have been through something similar, even more so there are people who have been through things way more difficult than this. It helps to pray for those people and it puts things into perspective.

I love the incredible feeling I get when people ask how William is and I get to grin and say that he is GREAT! He is great, and right now we get to see the happy little boy that was hidden inside for a while.

Thank you to everyone who continues to think of him, pray for him, and check in on us from time to time. We couldn't get here without all of you!

Love,
The Marvelous Moeller's
XOXOXOXOXO

Enjoy the beautiful weekend!