Happy Halloween!

Is it really Halloween?! This year we decided to be a family of skeletons! We had a family Halloween party at my dad’s house in Longmont on Tuesday, so Monday night I made our costumes! Mac’s skeleton pajamas were the inspiration for mine and Jeremy’s. I drew out the bones myself! Then last night we had a trunk or treat at our church so that was a lot of fun too! If you’re going to go to the trouble to make costumes, you may as well wear them as many times as possible right?!

So let’s see. Mac is 19 months old now! Isn’t he just the cutest thing you’ve ever seen? 🙂

He’s had a a few monthly appointments at Children’s to do blood work and everything has been good so far. He totally knows what’s going on and helps the nurse put on his ID bracelet and helps her with vitals. He started getting vaccinated again which I am very excited about. He had his 6 month old shots and then was diagnosed, so he is about 10 shots behind. He had to wait to be off chemo therapy for 6 months before he started getting vaccines again. He got 5 a couple weeks ago and will go in for 4 more in November.

Here are some pictures of us this summer/fall. We took Mac to his fist Rockies game! We got there in the 7th inning and ate dippin’ dots! Someone that worked there even gave him a free chocolate covered fruit shish kabob! We like to go on bike rides to the park. We still love going to the Denver zoo! One of my best friends Ali, who is away at PA school was home for a few days and her and her mom met us there! They even brought Mac bubbles! 🙂
Mac had another teeth cleaning appointment with me! I just loved it! When we were done, he wanted to put on a mask and gloves! We’ve been going to Longmont to see my family as often as we can! Mac loves being at Grammie and Pop’s house. They let him get out all the little toys and they feed him the famous chip and dip!
My dad and Marci have a little race track with battery powered cars at their house that Mac could play with for hours! They’ve been nice enough to watch Mac a couple times so we could go out just me and Jer. Our first outing was to the Broncos game! It was so hot but we LOVED it! Next we went out for our anniversary to the Last Comic Standing tour at the Paramount Theater. One of the comics was super inappropriate and we left until she was finished. That was disappointing but otherwise we had fun. It made me realize how important it is to guard our minds against things we don’t want to see or hear! Mac and I got to go with my dad to Arizona and that was a lot of fun! He is retired now, and works for Frontier part-time. We went to the zoo/aquarium there and Mac loved it. We did a little safari in an extended golf cart and the animals were running around right next to us. We fed a giraffe. We did a sky ride over the zoo and after a full day in 98 degree weather we were pooped!

So we went to St George to visit Jeremy’s family and to go to the Katy Perry concert in Las Vegas! The day we left we noticed a little rash on his chest but he had been running around in a wet shirt so I thought that’s what it was from. That night when I got him ready for bed, I noticed a BAD rash on his chest with a few spots elsewhere. We were worried but thought it was just a reaction to something. Needless to say, it was getting worse and worse. We decided to take him to the instacare in St. George the next day. They seemed flustered once we told them Mac’s medical history and previous cancer. After a long wait, they decided that it was chicken pox. We tried to keep him quarantined so we didn’t go to visit friends or Jeremy’s sisters or anyone really. But as a couple days went by, these spots never turned into what would be chicken pox. I had been on the phone with Children’s hospital and they said it was a rash and we made an appointment with the pediatrician when we got home. He diagnosed it as walking pneumonia and gave him an antibiotic. Luckily it went away but it was sad for Mac.

That would explain the cough he had. I had taken him in about that a couple times but they told us it was just a virus. Well it was really this walking pneumonia. It’s so tough because Mac is our only kid and so when he gets sick or has a rash, it’s hard to know what’s just “normal” and what is concerning! At the end of the trip we headed to Vegas for the Kety Perry concert! Jeremy watched Mac and I went with his mom and sisters to the concert. It was at the MGM Grand. IT WAS AWESOME! I’m guessing it will be the best concert I ever go to! I proudly wear my concert shirt probably once a week! 🙂

When we got home it was time for me to speak at the Rocky Mountain Childhood Cancer Foundation gala. They were having their annual fundraising event and had asked me earlier this summer if I would be a guest speaker! We were going to take Mac but he had this rash and at this time we still weren’t sure what it was. All day I had been debating on taking him or not and finally about 30 minutes before we needed to leave I called my step brother Mitch who lives close by and luckily he was available! Jeremy and I went and it was great! There were a couple hundred people there and I got to get up and tell Mac’s story and how they helped us when we were in the hospital. It was so touching to see people gathered together to raise money for families in need. Last year I would have been so oblivious to needs like this. Now I know it first hand.