The "C" Word

CANCER.

My mom has just recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. I'm feeling really weird about it all. I just can't really get it to sink in, it's just too unreal.

Three weeks ago she told me she was going to have a biopsy on a lump she'd found. It's pretty big, about as big as a silver dollar. She'd already had ultrasounds on it and the doctor thought it was probably cancer. As she told me this through her tears, saying that she just wanted to see her grandchildren, I sat there calmly reassuring her that she would be fine, maybe they were wrong, atleast she was young with good insurance and besides breast cancer is pretty treatable. I felt bad afterwards. How could I not cry? How could I tell her all of that? She's my mom. I guess the shock of it all? I don't know.

Fast forward to last week Wednesday. The biopsy is over and the doctor called to let her know that it was definitely cancer. He wanted to get the actual pathology reports in before he met with her again, but since my dad is already scheduled for a hip replacement, he thought it would be fine for her to wait and have surgery in a month or two. She felt pretty good about that and was planning to just have a double mastectomy in a couple of months and move on with life.

Today she met with the doctor. The cancer (although he is unable to confirm the stage until after the surgery) is very aggressive and she needs to have surgery as soon as possible. After that, she'll need to meet with an oncologist and he felt pretty certain that chemo and/or radiation was in her future as well.

I'm freaked out. I just keep thinking about all the bad things that could happen - I can't even type most of them. How and what I'm going to tell the boys? What if this doesn't work out the way I want it to? And what if she's too sick to come to the hospital when the baby comes? What if she has no hair in her first photos with our new baby? What if she is well but her immune system is so suppressed that her doctor won't let her come to the hospital to see us? What if the boys don't get to spend any time with her this fall because they might give her germs? What if I get cancer?

This really can't be happening.

FINALLY OPEN!!

After what seems like an eternity, our newest store is finally open! I won't even go into all of the drama that surrounded the acquisition of the lease, negotiations, build-out, inspections, etc. that occurred over the last 15 months, but believe me, it was A LOT!

We opened on Tuesday, July 20th and have been VERY busy every single day. A couple of days revenue in the new store even surpassed the original - not by much, but still, what a relief! The stress of when it would open and IF it would do well is pretty much over. Now we're just dealing with the stress of our business partner leaving for Ireland the day after we opened! It is definitely a lot more work to run 2 stores (one being brand new) and training new employees without our right hand man. There have definitely been times that we thought it would have been nice to be able to do all of this on our own without a business partner, but I am certain now that we'd be hard pressed to do it without him!

Here are some pics of the new place.



I actually like this lighted sign so much that I'm pretty much ok with the fact that it cost so much!!



LOTS of fun!!



Our check-in area



The Party Room



Inside the Party Room

The Butterfly Whisperer

Summer and Baby Stuff

Once again we are working to open a new store over the summer and although we've worked like crazy and everything is ready, apparently the City of Austin is not. Permitting stuff is a nightmare and can you really believe that there are separate inspectors for drywall and drywall fasteners?? Seriously, if a guy knows about drywall, shouldn't he be able to inspect the fasteners used to secure it to the wall?? Luckily the landlord and his contractor have been the ones responsible for dealing with the city and all their nonsense, but personally I would feel much better if I were in control of dealing with the city. Sometimes I just can't really believe that the City of Austin can be that difficult to deal with. So here we sit with a store that was ready to open 2 weeks ago and no occupancy permit, money flying out the window everytime we get a call for a birthday party we can't book and everytime a mom stops by to see if her kid can come in to play.

Gavin has enjoyed being home with his brothers the last month. He's really so easy going that we don't have to do much to keep him happy! Keaton went to a Tennis Camp a couple of weeks ago and absolutely loved it. He and Jacob also went to an incredible VBS. Unfortunately they only take kids going into Kindergarten through 5th grade, so Gavin couldn't attend this year. Jacob and Keaton had a great time and can't wait for me to sign them up again next year. Jacob was also able to go to Fiesta Texas with a friend for his birthday. We've done some swimming, seen some movies, played with friends and over the 4th saw Bob Schneider in concert and a fireworks show! All in all the summer has been good so far and I'm looking forward to spending a few days away from home soon. With the new store opening soon (we hope!) we won't be able to go on a BIG vacation, but I'm thinking a couple days at Hy.att Lost Pines would be fun and relaxing.

On the baby front, I'm now 24 weeks 4 days along and all seems to be going well. I had a doctors appointment yesterday and was thrilled to learn that I've only gained 23 pounds in this 24 weeks! Hopefully I will continue to grow at 1 pound per week or less and could actually end up with a weight gain of only 39 pounds! That would be 11 pounds less than my last 2 pregnancies and 24 pounds less than when I was pregnant with Jacob. Of course I am not counting on it since I have gained A LOT of weight with the other boys, but it definitely would be nice to have less weight to lose! Here's the latest belly shot taken today.



I've also managed to clean out the room that will be the nursery and even bought some bedding. I saw this set more than a year ago and loved it and then found it at the outlet this weekend. I contemplated whether or not it was too "babyish" but ultimately decided (with the help of my dear friend Weslea!) I could change it out when he outgrows it since it was such a great price. AND, how often do you love something for over a year and then happen to find it the first time you're out shopping?