Cheers to Good Friends

This past week Alyson, Jim, and their daughter Lily came to visit us.  Alyson and I have been friends since 5th grade. She went to college in Oklahoma City so we got to see each other every so often during our college years. About 3 years ago she and Jim moved out to Idaho so sadly we don't get to see each other very often now.  The last time we saw each other was up in Seattle just before Lily was born, so we were very much looking forward to their visit.

During their visit we had constant entertainment from Lily who is 14 months old.  She is a girl on the move.  We quickly learned we have a lot of child proofing to do with our house. We would move one thing out of Lily's reach just as she would discover something new that we had missed.  Its amazing how much a baby will grow in a year, I find it very hard to believe Abby will just as mobile and interactive in a year from now.

Our happy girl showing off her favorite thing to do lately, watch Mom and Dad make goofy faces which she can smile at.

Abby and I checking out the wild animals at Wild Wildness drive-thru Safari.  We saw all kinds of exciting animals from monkeys to lion, tigers, and bears (oh my).

What were we thinking... I'm not sure but we thought it would be a funny picture.  

Abby's new friend Lily, who is just a bit bigger than her.

Abby just plain tuckered out after having a good 'ol time with the Kleins.

And now a couple of short clips:

This first one captures Abby showing off her smile.

I think we enjoyed the slide a little more than the girls.

Life's Ups and Downs

Sometimes life has a way to keep you in check.  One minute I was busy being the proud new father of Abby, the world's cutest and most perfect baby girl.  The next minute I was answering the phone to hear the news that my father was being taken by ambulance from his home in Wyoming to the hospital in Salt Lake City, UT.

Dad had recently undergone a fairly routine prostrate surgery, and following the surgery my Mom had noticed a few moments of forgetfulness and confusion.  They told his surgeon this, and he decided that they better get a CT scan to try to figure out what might be causing this.  When they did this scan, they found several "spots" on his brain, and they eventually decided that those spots may have been signs of a serious but treatable infection from the surgery.  

This possible infection is what led to the ambulance ride to the hospital, the doctors wanted to get Dad to the hospital quickly so that they could get the infection under control.  Once he got to the hospital and the doctors in Salt Lake City ran some more tests, it started to become clear that the spots on his brain weren't caused by an infection.  Instead of an infection, the doctors were starting to bring up the dreaded "C" word, cancer.  The only way to confirm exactly what was going on was to take a sample of one of the "spots".  There was one "spot" that was close to the surface, so he went in for a brain biopsy to remove some of the tissue in question to test it.  The results that came back were exactly what we didn't want to hear.  My Dad was diagnosed with a very aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma multiforme.

A lot has happened in the past four weeks since his diagnosis.  Peggy, Abby and I all piled in the car an made the road trip from Arkansas to Wyoming to be with my family, and to introduce Abby to her other set of grandparents, and also to her two uncles, Peggy's brothers Paul and Rick.  Abby did a wonderful job of bringing smiles to everyone's face, even though we had just been hit with some bad news.  We spent nearly two weeks back home, and now Abby can claim to have been in six states, which isn't bad for a nine week old!  

After meeting with doctors, my Dad decided to proceed with some treatment that should help to keep the cancer from growing too fast.  He is almost finished with his second week of a six week course of radiation therapy, during which he is also taking an oral chemotherapy pill.  So far things are going well with his treatment, and he seems to be feeling pretty good.  We know there is no cure for this cancer, and the prognosis is not good, but we are focused on making the most out of each day.  It is sad that sometimes it takes things like cancer to remind you that our time together is rather short, so you need to make the most out of whatever time you have left.

Life is returning to normal for us.  I have been back at work, and Peggy and Abby have been enjoying some nice springtime weather together during the past few days.  Abby goes to the doctor tomorrow for her first major round of immunizations, so we are all keeping our fingers crossed that that experience goes well.

I need to wrap this post up.  When I started writing this I was really at a loss for words, and I think I have more than made up for those initial few moments of not knowing what to say.  Before I go, here are a few pics of Abby in the wild West!

Here is Abby getting cozy with a very proud grandfather!

Abby and her grandmother hitting it off together...

Here is Abby saying hello to her Uncle Paul!

And here is Uncle Rick showing off his baby holding skills with Abby!