Gavin's First Day of Preschool

Gavin's preschool started the Thursday before Labor Day. He was SO excited to get back to school and was really hoping to go 5 days a week. Unfortunately for him Mommy doesn't like her boys to be gone! I had only signed him up for a Tuesday/Thursday morning class, but at his request put him on a waiting list for a 3 day a week class and the 5 day a week class. On the night we went to meet his teacher, Ms. Gloria (Keaton had her when he was 4), he went to the director and asked if she had found a spot for him 5 days a week yet! Of course there wasn't a spot, but all of us laughed at his persistance! On his first morning back to school he stopped in the preschool office again and asked the director if she even had a 3 day a week spot for him. Requests from someone as cute as him must go a long way because by Friday afternoon he had a 3 day a week spot! He's super excited to be going to school 3 days a week and if he's happy then I'm happy. My house sure is going to be quiet on Monday, Wednesday and Friday for the next 6 weeks though!

Here's Gavin ready to get back to school.



Here he is in his classroom.

First Day of School

I can't believe how the summer flew by and we're already 3 weeks into the school year! The boys weren't really looking forward to going back, but once they finally met their teachers, their excitement grew. Both boys were lucky to get great teachers this year. Keaton has Mrs. Fleming, the same teacher Jacob had for 2nd grade and Jacob got Mr. Benthall for 5th grade. It's amazing that Jacob is in his last year of elementary school...how sad!

Here they are ready to head off to the first day of school.


Gavin just had to take a picture with them even though it wasn't his first day.

Mom's Progress

This whole cancer thing has really not been fun for any of us, especially my poor mom. August 13th she had a double mastectomy and reconstruction. The surgeries took about 5 hours and my poor dad was on pins and needles the whole time. He was actually breaking out in hives in the waiting room! Mom did well and was released 2 days later. Jacob spent his last week of summer at their house helping to take care of their dogs and doing anything that needed to be done. He is such an amazing 10 year old. He never complained once about missing his last week of summer to help his Mom-o and Papa. Unfortunately mom's wounds on the right side did not healing correctly and to make a long story short she ended up having a second surgery to remove dead tissue and skin, reduce the size of her expander and give the remaining tissue and skin the ability to grow back healthy. The pathology reports came back that there was no cancer in her lymphnodes and she was thrilled. It even made the thought of having a second surgery bearable. That joy was short lived after her appointment with the oncologist who told her that while it was great there was not cancer in her lymphnodes, her pathology report was troubling. He did a new chest x-ray and bloodwork and sent her home to rest and heal completely before he started her on any kind of treatment. After receiving the bloodwork analysis, he called and let her know that going without chemo was not an option. He also suggested that she have a port placed to make receiving her treatments easier. She was upset, but seems to finally be getting back to normal. Emotionally she has had a hard time accepting that she is sick and my dad has been very cautious and has not really let her do a lot up until last Thursday. I think all this laying around at home resting and not doing anything has contributed to her feeling down. She went out over the weekend to see a movie, did some shopping and even had the boys come over for a visit, so she's starting to improve. She was able to go back to work from home on Tuesday and has enjoyed feeling somewhat normal again. Tomorrow is her appointment with the oncologist to really discuss her blood work at length and find out more information about her treatments. I'm just praying that what the doctor has to say is not a devastating blow when she's just starting to feel normal again.

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?