So it's been a while...

Yeah, yeah, I know. If I could actually locate my camera cord, I'd be downloading pictures, too, but I can't so I won't. And I figured not having the pictures was only a good enough excuse for one month, so bask in the glory or my photoless posts...

Done basking?

Good.

Busy month, that September. I dragged the whole family back up to Oregon to visit my mom before chemo started mid-month. It is one of the best visits we've had in YEEAARRS. Mom was taken off some meds before her surgery and it turns out that it was the drugs, not the M.S. that had caused some of Mom's personality to fade. She's back! It was so unbelievable to have that kind of visit with my Mom...the best visit at least since Tyler and I got hitched 7 years ago...

Jack started back to Pre-K and life is busy again with driving him around and trying to do all the other stuff I'm supposed to (those of you with older kids are probably laughing at me maniacally, thinking, "oh, you think that's crazy? just you wait until your the soccer-Mom to 4..."). We all caught whatever cold is going around here and have been coughing (basically) since we got home. Sigh.

Oh, and chemo was going ok but now mom has some PAINFUL nerve side-effects. Fabulous.

Also not-fabulous is my sister-in-laws first invitro attempt (she has premature ovarian failure...anyone dealing with infertility can find a friend in her and perhaps help for your own journey...see our sidelink to Wild Thing, I Think I Love You). She got pregnant...and then the hcg levels dropped and it looks like a blighted ovum. I had one of those, once, and without the path she's endured to get there. I'm still struggling to deal with this tragedy so I can only imagine their feelings (and how much it hurts).

In good news, Henry is 10 months old now! Crazy, how quickly time has flown with him. He's now crawling for REAL (for about the past month or so), and sitting up, and pulling to stand, and cruising, and teething! He got the first tooth around 9 months, the second 2 or 3 weeks later, and just Sunday cut his first top tooth (and is working on cutting 3 more on top). He's been a little grumpy and isn't sleeping great (again). He is having SO MUCH FUN, though, with Jack and Sheridan. They get him giggling like nothing else. When Sheridan isn't trying to sit on him, at least...

Jack and Sheridan just keep getting bigger. He turns 5 in less than a month (!) and is counting down the days (literally). He has learned to read over the past 4 months and now we find him reading Bernstein Bears books by himself. It's really cool! He's also been my helper during naptimes--he gardens, cooks, and crafts with the best of them. Sheridan is busy being "mommy" to her yellowish bear--she cooks for her, pushes her around in the stroller, and loses her then breaks down into hysterics when she can't find her. Such is the life of a mother, I guess!