Claire Biscuit 6.0

The month long celebration that is Claire's birthday continued last weekend with her b-day party at The Kid's Kitchen in Naperville.  Claire and her friends had a blast and made some pretty good looking pizzas and cupcakes.  I took about 1,000 pictures which yielded about 8-10 decent ones.  That seems to be about my ratio.  The one below is my favorite.

Claire is 6

Claire turned 6 last week.  Had an awesome birthday bash.  Claire let Matthew blow out her candles which was priceless. 

 

 

3/3

On Thursday, March 3rd, we celebrate the 4th birthday of our daughter Meghan Rose (sometimes affectionately known as our 'Angel Meghan').  None of you ever met Meghan but I would like to tell you a little bit about her.  She was stillborn on March 3, 2007, only 2 weeks before her due date of March 17th.  She was beautiful.  I remember vividly, sitting with Nicole in the hospital bed at Elmhurst hospital, holding Meghan after she was born, talking to her about how much we already missed her and how she will forever be an important part of our family.  Our puzzle has a big piece missing.  I am not one to think that Meghan is all around us or looking down on us.  Maybe I am too calloused, obtuse, cynical, angry, stubborn, etc, etc.  A friend of mine recently wrote that she sees her late mom in the faces of her little boys.  I liked that.  I am reminded of Meghan often when I look at Meghan's brother and sister...and her mom.  Meghan, we miss you and love you, now more than ever. 

PICC pics

OH MY GOD!!!!  Those were the words Matthew chose to scream when he woke up from sedation and looked at his arm to find that his PICC line had been removed.  He then demanded the 'tubies', as we took to calling them, be put back in immediately.  We pretty much give in to anything the little guy wants, except for this.  The PICC line is out and is staying out.  Today was Matthew's last dose of intrathecal chemotherapy (chemotherapy delivered to his spinal fluid) and a good opportunity to pull it out seeing that there are no more scheduled sedations.  Tonight he took his first bath in a long time without his arm wrapped up like a leftover breakfast sausage.  Here are some pics of the picc.

Matthew showing off his fine physique before bath time (as you can clearly see my cells have already made a noticeable difference to his chiseled torso) 

The PICC line.  Also called, the PowerPICC because of something having to do with the maximum flow rate.