Michelle and Kenna came to play

My sister, Michelle and her little girl came this week for a visit.  We always love it when she comes.  I enjoy the one on one time with me sister and Abby and Kenna love to play.  We ran some errands, visited my grandparents and just hung out at the house.  One day, we set up a sprinkler in the backyard, and all three girls had a blast running through the water.

It was so much fun having them over, but I'm afraid that I might have scared my sister from ever having kids again.  Our house can be a bit chaotic, and Colton has morphed into a bit of cryer.  If he's not spitting up, then he's crying, so I'm afraid it wasn't the most relaxing destination for their vacation.

Owls Baseball

Cam's mom bought Abby a team t-shirt, it's just a little big.  Colton was at the game too, but spent a good majority of it sleeping in his car seat.

On Monday night we went to an Owl's baseball game.  Abby went to a few games last year, and has been talking about going again ALL YEAR LONG.  She is Hoot and Holly's (the teams mascots) biggest fan.  We went with all of Cam's family, it was fun, but having three little kids and a newborn at the game wasn't easy.  I think the Owls won (I find baseball boring and so my attention is usually drawn elsewhere) and afterwards there were fireworks because it was the opening season game.  Abby and Lexi were both completely fascinated with the fireworks and Colton was eating a bottle and had pretty wide eyes, wondering what all the noise was.

My Dad

My Dad had his surgery this last week to remove the cancer from his colon.  The surgery went well, but once they were in there, they realized the mass was bigger than they thought.  They also removed the lymph nodes, because the cancer had spread to them.  They said it was stage 3 cancer.  The Dr's feel like they removed all the cancer, but are still recommending Chemo because it had spread a little.  As soon as he is healed from the surgery, he will start chemo treatments, probably around the first of August.

I've kind of been unsure of how to react to my Dad's diagnosis, because my Dad has always seemed invincible.  He's rarely sick, and even more rarely hurt.  I just can't imagine him being laid up from surgery, and the thought of going through chemo is just unreal.  I've always kind of felt that this stuff happens to other people, yet here were are in the middle of it.  I know my Dad will beat this, the Dr's feel like it was caught in time, but it's a little too close for comfort.  It's been hard because I feel like my Dad doesn't deserve this.  Not that anybody actually deserves cancer, but my Dad is a really good person. He is the most giving person that I know.  He's unbelievable smart, and seems to have a good knowledge of pretty much everything.  I've always gone to my Dad first for advice on money, life, computers, church, home, everything.  I just can't picture him being anything but the amazing Dad he has been my whole life.

No more pink

On Wednesday, I asked Cam's sister Are' to come over to help me paint Coltons new room.  I wanted to paint it a mint green, which was a lot lighter than the dark pink that was on the walls.  It took quite a bit of work to cover up all that pink, but I'm loving the new color.  I still have to decorate his walls with some stuff, but at least it's starting to look like a boy's room.

The big "C"

Well, the big cancer has shown it's ugly head in our family.  Last Friday, my Mom called to tell us that my Dad had just gone it to have a colonoscopy done, and they found some cancer.  They still don't know much, and won't until they go in next Thursday for surgery.  Best case senario:  All he will need is the surgery, and after a few weeks of recovery, he will be back to normal.  Worst case senario:  Surgery, then some chemo.  We are just praying and hoping for the best.

Surviving these three hooligans

So, I haven't really had time to do much blogging, nor have I been in the mood, but I want to do a quick update of the last couple of weeks.

• Colton had his two week appointment last week, and I have to say, this was the most horrible Drs appointment I have ever been to.  The number one reason it was awful:  Colton was circumcised, and I got to watch the whole thing.  I was completely unprepared because I thought there was no way that the Dr would do it while I was in the room.  However, I got the resposiblilty of feeding Colton some sugar water to try and keep him happy the whole time.  I don't want to be dramatic, but it was a little tramitic to watch.  It was like a 20 minute procedure, and it was quick horrific.  The number two reason it was an awful appointment:  The Dr wanted me to take Colton to the hospital for another bilirubin check because he was still the tiniest bit yellow.  In my opinion, he was hardly yellow, and it was a waste of my time to drive to the hospital for another bilirubin check.  Of course the results were fine, and there was no need for any treatment or anything. The last reason it was a bad appointment:  Colton only weighed 8 lbs 5 oz, which is one ounce shy of his birth weight.  Since he wasn't at his birth weight, I had to come back a few days later for a weight check.  Again, I felt like this was a waste of my time.  Seriously, it was only one ounce away.  And of course, when I brought him back for his weight check, he was 8 lbs 6.5 oz and the Dr wanted him to be at 8 lbs 7.5 oz.  One ounce shy again.  So, of course the Dr ordered another weight check in a couple of days.  When I brought him back, he weighed 8 lbs 12 oz, which was well above what the Dr required, so finally Colton got the all clear.  I was so frustrated with all this nonsence.  I felt like it was all a waste of my time, and I still haven't quite gotten the hang of taking all three kids places.  So two extra trips to the Dr's office and a trip to the hospital tried my patience a little.
• We bought a new-to-us car.  Actually this was pretty easy, because we just bought my parents 2007 Honda Pilot from them.  When my Dad came over to pick up my Mom, he just brought the car over, and left it here with us.  The stressful part was trying to get out of our lease on the Camry.  Thankfully, my prayers were answered and we were able to sell the car.
• However, almost as soon as we got the new car, Cam's truck stopped working.  It took several days for Cam to get a chance to work it, but all it needed was a new battery and a jump start. 
• I survived my first 4 day stretch of being alone with the kids.  The first two days were a little rough because Cam had to take my car to work when the truck wasn't running, which left me trapped in the house for two days.  But I survived and so did the kids, so all in all, it was quite successful.
• We finally got some toys for the backyard, and we've finally gotten a break from all the rain and cold.  So, the girls have spent a lot of time out back playing. 

Covered in dirt and chalk

Oh good, rubbing the dirt and chalk in your hair

Which is great, except that we still have some landscaping to get done, so there is quite a bit of dirt and mud out back.  Needless to say, there's been a lot higher need for baths and laudry since they started playing out there everyday.

I thought this picture was hilarious.  Somehow he rinkled his face all up, and he looks like an old man.

• Colton is a pretty happy baby as long as he has a full tummy.  He eats pretty much every three hours now, which is welcomed change from needing a bottle every two hours, day and night.  And last night, he had one stretch of sleep that lasted four hours.  Hoorah!

It is darn near impossible to keep their room clean. 

• We moved Lexi into Abby's room.  I was hoping that Colton would sleep in my room for several months, and I wouldn't have to move the girls into the same room quite yet.  But it just isn't working to have Colton in our room, so we went ahead and made the move.  Luckily it's been a much easier transition than I thought it would be.  Now all that's left to do is paint over the pink in Lexi's old room and organize the girls closet so it will hold both of their massive amount of clothing and toys.

Mostly, though, these last couple of weeks has just been us trying to figure out how we are going to survive a three year old, a one year old, and a newborn.  Thankfully, there have been friends offering to watch the girls and bring us meals.  Thats definitaly made things a little easier on us.