First Day Excitement

At our house - we were all excited about going back to school. No sadness or anxiety (that I know of). Mr. T did say he planned on being shy. I don't really know what that is about but I don't think it lasted. They both came home happy. They loved their teachers and were so happy to see all their school friends again. I love uniforms! The kids looked so sharp and it makes getting dressed every morning so much easier for all of us.

Kenyon even woke up early on his own to join in the first day excitement.

I drove the afternoon carpool and of course G-man feel asleep. So I woke him to bring him inside and he promptly walked to the stairs and fell asleep in this position - and stayed there for another 40 minutes. Looks comfy! Last night I discovered that he was watching TV at 3:30 am. That might be why he is so tired. I have since disabled the upstairs TV - much to the complaint of all the Porter children.

The best part of the day for all of us (I think) was dinner. My kids favorite food is crepes. We didn't have time to pull that off for breakfast so I made them for dinner. And we have discovered (thanks to Jane and my mom and some downtown eatery) that crepes are best when filled with nutella and strawberries. It was a heavenly dinner. Hooray for school starting!

Needles and Donation

Today was the first acupuncture appointment. So cool to me. I would love to try it. Kenyon said he didn't even feel it. They put in four small needles (one in each wrist and one in each leg) and they had him rest for about 20 minutes and then they pulled them out and it was over. We have scheduled a couple more and we'll see if it does anything. Next time they will put in more needles. They are trying to treat nausea and fatigue. I think he did pretty well today but hard to say if that was exactly why.

Also, you may remember I posted earlier this summer about Adrian Sudbury, a young British guy with leukemia. He passed away this week. It makes me so sad. He was so young and had every bad thing happen to him possibly could. Obviously I don't know him but I have followed his blog and efforts to spread the word about bone marrow donation. He was so impressive to me as he lived at the last few months of his life. His goal was to pass legislation in England that would require students to learn about getting on the bone marrow registry. He made such great strides. It is fairly easy to become a bone marrow donor and not too bad a procedure to go through if you are a match. We have talked to many people who have not had a related donor and been blessed to find a match on the national registry. It saved their life. And I have said this before - but if you are having a baby you can also donate the umbilical cord. An easy way to save another life that would otherwise be thrown away.

I know I need to update my picture at the top of my blog. I am working on that....hopefully it will look better soon.

Day +50 and Stuff

Well, I think I am overdue for a Kenyon update. We are just past day +50. I don't really know what that means. Day +100 is the magical number that doctors aim for. The first 100 days are when we would see acute GVHD (graft vs. host disease). That is when the body and the new blood are kind of fighting each other and it manifests itself in a few different ways. So far no GVHD. That is good. His blood counts continue to make progress or stay the same (which is fine). We go into the clinic every week for check up and blood work and overall the doctors seem pleased. There are no major concerns - other than the constant nausea that Kenyon deals with. They are trying to figure out a solution - adjusting meds, etc. I am afraid it might plague him for as long as he is on GenGraf - the immuno-suppressent drug. However, I did schedule an acupuncture appointment for him. You never know - that might really work for him.

The Olympics have kept him (and the rest of the family) entertained. In fact, we are staying up WAY too late. But, really you can't go to bed and not know the results. Unfortunately, the kids are not sleeping in so then I am always sorry that I did it. Weren't you so frustrated that Nastia got the silver last night. Lame.

Elise is convinced that if she sets her mind to it she can be an Olympic gymnast. I have carefully tried to tell her that there isn't a chance on this planet that she will ever be one without dashing her positive thinking. She is going to be at least 6'0 so let's be realistic. We are trying to push her in the direction of volleyball, soccer, high jump - track and field, tennis, etc. Just about any sport benefits from some height - except gymnastics.

Teague wants to be the world's fastest sprinter. That is a great goal but somehow I once again don't think there is a chance. But, worth a try. I just wish he would be that practice to work whenever I ask him to do anything. Somehow every time we are in a hurry or I need help, he just can't possibly move because he is SO TIRED.

Baby names seem to be the other topic around here. My family has been very helpful in supplying as many options as I could ever want. They even had a little vote, but the official judges have not made any commitment to any name. My good neighbor suggests that the baby must be named after a beer - he is voting for Amber Ale Porter. That would go over well on blessing day. :) We continue to wait - hoping something will really stick.

Too Funny

Last night was a little crazy. Family was packing up and heading out to go camping. I had the boys in the tub. Elise was in bed crying - she has a fever and sore throat. (Just what our house needed). The Bishop and one of his counselors comes to the door to visit with Kenyon. I got our visitors downstairs and then hurried back to the tub. I said to the boys, "We need to get out of the tub and in pjs. The bishop is here." Gavin - "I want to see the bishop." Me - "I know, but you can't see the Bishop naked." A look of fear crosses Gavin's eyes and he says, "The Bishop is naked?!" Me - "Ummm No, You are naked. You need to get dressed." A minute passes and Gavin says, "That would be 'gwoss'." I feel bad that our good bishop had to be the subject of a good laugh but it was pretty funny.

Neighborhood Twins

I am getting so used to Kenyon bald that it is kind of strange to look at the pictures of him with hair. I might just have him stay bald!

We have a good friend up the street - Brandon - who sports the bald look and Sunday night they were both out in their navy blue and looked kind of like twins. However - Brandon's head has even coloring all over and he lacks the puffy eye look. Lucky guy!

Did You Love It?

How could you not? The opening ceremonies (although lengthy) were incredible. Favorite moments - the 2008 drummers. That was the coolest thing. I loved the countdown. I was totally impressed by those concentric circles they made with 2008 Chinese. How did they stand in the right place and then move around and still look so synchronized? And the huge globe with the dancers running sideways around it? I loved the lighting of the torch. The whole thing was pretty amazing. It would have been fun to be there - except I don't really love the idea of being in a crowd of 90,000 people. Stress me out.

Hooray for the Olympics. I am a huge fan and now we have endless good TV to keep us entertained. Too bad we didn't have this while we were in the hospital. That would have helped.

The kids are home and I love it. They are so funny. Teague has talked my ear off and has all kinds of good stories and details to share.

I think Kenyon has been making some good progress. We have made it out on a walk every night. We are so slow going (mostly my fault) but we make it and it is good for both of us.

What Do I Do In The Summer Time?

Normally, I would be very busy doing things with the kids. Hopefully lots of swimming. But not this summer. So, with the extra time while I am sort of stuck at home - I have done lots of projects and a little reading.

My favorite project was this blanket I made for Baby No-Name. It was not as easy as I was told it would be but it turned ok. I really just loved the fabrics. Sadly, they have discontinued this fabric line. Darn it.

I made these little make-up pouches for my sister-in-laws for mostly late birthday gifts. The best part is all the cute fabrics that you can use. I especially love Heather Bailey's new line. I passed them out at lunch today. We ate at Settebello's in downtown Salt Lake. It is authentic Italian pizza. They brought the oven over from Naples. Yummm.

I also made a few more nursing aprons - aka Hooter Hiders.

There are more projects to come but currently - Breaking Dawn is begging for my attention. Oh yeah - and so is Kenyon. :) Time for meds. Things are going fine with him. The infusion pump is now on an 8 hour timer so the sleep situation is a little better. I think he is making progress in the puking department but it is still not great. I just can't wait for him to be hungry because I am hungry ALL THE TIME!!

Elise has lost her 2nd tooth in Cali (that makes 3 toothfairy visits in California in 2 weeks). The kids also experienced their first earthquake and generally thought it was pretty cool. They will be back soon. I am excited to have them home - except that might put an end to the projects.

*Have you read Seriously, So Blessed? It is pretty dang funny but now that I have re-read this post, I pretty much want to delete it. The author of that blog would have a hay-day with this one. Oh well.