I Did It!

Well, I officially started working out today.

I joined the VB Rec Centers yesterday and headed out to the pool today. I swam 1/2 a mile in about 30 minutes, which is an agonizingly slow pace, but at least I did it.

I think I can get that to a mile in 30 minutes if I really work at it. That's one of my goals for now. My other goal is to swim 30 minutes, Monday/Wednesday/Friday for a month. I think that if I can just get started, I'll keep it up. I'll be going during my lunch break and will be arriving to work a half hour early on the days that I swim. That allows 45 minutes for swimming and shower and 45 minutes for lunch.

I'll have to weigh myself somewhere, but I figure I'm around 235 lbs right now, which is close to the biggest I've ever been. I'd like to get back in the neighborhood of 200 lbs. I'll also probably take a "before" picture tonight and, if I'm not too embarrassed, when I get an "after" picture I'll post em side by side. Hopefully the "after" picture will do me better justice than I know the "before" picture will.

That's a whole lot of plans, but maybe if I blog about it, I'll stay honest. Besides, it feels good to blog about something other than cancer...

Wow...

MUTO a wall-painted animation by BLU from blu on Vimeo.

This is one of the weirdest things I've seen in a while, but it's so COOL!

Dance Dance!

Baylee and Cole have quite a career as ballroom dancers, I'm thinking.

We're sad to say that Baylee and her family are moving this weekend. They have been such a blessing to us before, but especially during, Cole's treatment. Peter is in the Navy and is being transferred. That's a pretty common story around here, but it's none the less sad for all of that.

Cole and Baylee get along so well, and play so well together. I know that Cole will miss Baylee. Cole wants to go over there every night (though that might be to play with all of Baylee's toys, hmmm...).

So, we're sad to see them go, and wish them all the best! Hopefully, we'll all be able to get together at some point and do some catching up.

It's been a while since I posted, sorry about that. Let me give you a quick update on how things are going.

Cole is doing wonderful. He's now in maintenance, which is awesome. Not to say that things can't still be difficult, but we're through the official hard parts.

Just two days ago, Cole and I went outside and he played in the court with all the other kids just like a normal 2 year old. He's walking and climbing well, dancing (as you can see) and in general is a delight to be around. He has enormous amounts of energy, let me tell you. We often wonder where he gets it from. He just goes and goes.

Logan is also doing well, though he has a little virus right now. His first teeth are peeking through and he's mobile. There's just no other way to describe it, hehe. The virus isn't really keeping him down that much. He still follows Cole and I around while we're all playing.

I think one of the funniest things about Logan is that he gets frustrated so easy, and when he's frustrated, he starts yelling. He gets frustrated when he can't open the bathroom door. He gets frustrated if you don't turn the pages of a book fast enough. He gets frustrated if you don't feed him fast enough. All of these are accompanied by a very vocal declamation of his frustration. I think he gets it from Dalynn, to be quite honest... ;)

Dalynn and I are also doing well. We're trying to plan some family trips this summer to see our extended families. Scheduling is a little difficult, as we're limited in our windows for travel. Cole gets big chemo at the beginning of every month, and that pretty much shoots the next week down. He just doesn't feel well enough to travel. So, there's really only 2.5 to 3 weeks a month that we can do something in. Hey, at least we have that, right?

We'd like to take the boys up to DC this summer, as well, to meet their great-great Grandma Steger. She's in her 90s and still lives by herself just outside of DC. When we go, we'll take the boys to see the Natural History Museum, the Air and Space Museum and the National Zoo. Logan's a little young to remember it, but we're pretty sure that Cole will love it. I can't say what excites me most, taking Cole to see dinosaur skeletons or taking Cole to see real live rocket ships...

There Go I...

We got word yesterday that one of the kids we know from clinic died this week. Her name was Cyndol. I didn't know her, but Dalynn did, and she was devastated. Cole also knew her, and when asked if he remembered her, he said "yes".

I'm not very sure on the details, but here's what I know. Cyndol had just undergone her second battle with cancer, having been diagnosed a few years ago, treated and then relapsed. She had some form of bone cancer, I believe. She was in remission for the second time and her and her parents had opted for a stem cell transplant as a means of keeping the cancer from coming back. Apparently, something happened and "what could have gone wrong did".

First off, please remember her family and friends in your prayers. She was a teenager, and I can't imagine what it would be like to lose a child when they were in remission... Losing Cole now would be way more devastating than if we had lost him right after he was diagnosed.

That's not to say that it would ever be easy to lose a child, or that I even know what that would feel like. Thank God, I don't. Nor do I ever, quite honestly. But, what I'm getting at is that when Cole was undergoing induction and right after, he was so sick, it wouldn't have been as bad a shock (how do you say that and not have it sound bad?). Now that he's healthy and in remission it would be horrendous, mainly to think that he had made it through, he was safe, and then to find out that he wasn't safe at all...

I can't imagine what Cyndol's family is going through right now. All that I know is that my heart cries out to God for them. It must be horrible, and I can only imagine that nothing will ease the pain.

Probably the best recap and memorial I can offer is from Sky's mother: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/boobear1

Sky is another of the clinic kids, and she's a wonderful little girl. She and Cyndol were close, apparently, and this is hard on them, as well...