Connor loses another tooth - Top Right!

On Sunday, Connor lost his third tooth, and probably one of the more noticeable ones he'll lose. He lost the top right front tooth, and it's left quite the gaping hole in his little smile. He'd been wiggling it for a few days and while he was over at Trevor's house playing, it was bleeding a little bit. He put some tissue on it and pulled it out himself!

Connor had a good time playing with a bunch of kids yesterday at Trevor's house. We all came by around dinner time to visit with them and the kids decided to play hide-and-seek. 

I took a video of them deciding who was "It". Paige thought it was a pretty funny process, and I thought it was cute. I'd never seen it done this way before.

Beach day with the Haskins and Neals

On Saturday, it was a hot day, and perfect for the beach. We went to the beach club pretty early and met our friends the Haskins and Neals there for lunch. We found all kinds of animals at the beach, a couple sea stars, a pretty large dead crab, and a snail. Paige liked to search for stuff at the beach and dig in the sand. Connor mostly wanted to swim and throw around a football with Trevor and any adult that would play with the kids.

Grandpa Garry and Grandma Genie visit

This week, Grandpa Garry and Grandma Genie came to visit us. They flew in on Tuesday and have been staying with us all week. They leave on Monday. They've played a little golf, and have spent all kinds of time with the kids. They took the kids to Target for some shopping and got Connor some stuffed animals and books, and Paige got a new Princess Sophia dress and some princess gear.

We've been playing outside quite a bit and have been swimming in our pool too.

I took a video of Grandpa Garry playing football with Connor, Nick, and me.

On Saturday we all went to our beach club for a beach day. We ate lunch when we arrived and snapped some pics.

It was terribly windy on the beach and we didn't stay too long there. Connor and I played the scoop ball game for a bit, but the wind was so bad it was really hard to throw it well. Paige found a bunch of seashells and spent most of her time putting them in a bucket and washing them off.

Thankfully, down at the family pool it was not windy at all and the water was nice and warm. We swam for a while and Connor and I played catch with the scoop balls.

Paige participated in a game the lifeguards organized where they threw toy fish in the pool and the kids had to retrieve them. Paige is too buoyant to dive to the bottom of the pool on her own, so I had to give her a push down so she could grab them. She did pretty well and earned a piece of candy for her effort.

Double rainbow

I got back from my jog the other day and took a couple pictures of one of the most beautiful double rainbows I've ever seen. My buddy Joe Cotter saw it and said I should check in the backyard for a pot of gold!

Football sideline drills

Connor loves working on his football skills, especially doing sideline drills. He likes to run towards the side of the driveway, catch the ball, and get both feet down before going in to the grass.

Multitasking with iPads

Connor was multitasking the other day and I was pretty impressed. I had to get some pics. He was watching football on Youtube and playing "Wipeout" on another iPad.

Kids playing out front

We played out front for a while with the jeep lately and with some of the neighbor kids. Connor enjoyed playing "Drive through".

Mother's day 2014

Today, we had kind of a chill day pretty close to home for Mother's day. Andrea's really doing pretty well after surgery, but it was our first full day without Aunt Abby around to help us out. We put on some cute clothes and went to Cantina Loredo for lunch and I snapped a few pics of Mommy with the kids before we left.

 

When we got to the restaurant, I snapped a few pics of the kids before we ate. Connor's friend Trevor had spent the night, so we brought him along too. He wore some of Connor's cute clothes and I fixed his hair too so he'd fit in. The waitress thought that Connor and Trevor were twin brothers!

Happy Mother's day!

May Day fun in the neighborhood

This weekend, some of our neighbors put together a "May Day" field day of fun in the fields by the clubhouse. There were a few blow-up things to play on, a train to ride, and some games setup. Andrea wasn't feeling up to going out in the heat, so I just took the kids for a little bit.

Paige ran in to her buddy Kenlyn and they had a lot of fun playing on the blow-up toys together.

Connor didn't ride the train, but Paige was very happy to give it a spin.

Mr. Jim drove the kids around for a while.

We also got some ice cream, snow cones and cotton candy to eat. We ended up dripping in sweat pretty quickly, so we went to the neighborhood pool to cool off.

Aunt Abby comes to Florida to help after surgery

This past Monday,  Abby flew in to Jacksonville to help us with everything after Andrea's surgery. She flies out today, Saturday. I was a little wishy-washy about accepting any help for the week, but thankfully Andrea insisted on it. In retrospect, I'm not very sure how I would have survived without Abby.

We didn't find out the time of the surgery until the day before. We'd requested that Andrea wasn't the first surgery of the day, but she was. Andrea and I woke up at 5am and were at the hospital by 6am. I'm not sure what I would have had to do with the kids that morning to make it work if Abby hadn't been there. Abby got the kids ready every morning and took them to school and the bus stop. She really did everything in the week that Andrea would typically do. I got pretty far behind on my work since I was at the hospital most of the day Tuesday with Andrea. I eventually got caught back up, but it was a tough week and I never would have caught up without Abby's help.

Abby did some really cute hairstyles for Paigie Pie. Friday's was my favorite and I got a couple cute pics of her braids.

Connor had so much fun playing with Abby, they played football and tennis together and Connor was cracking up like crazy the whole time. He thinks Abby is very entertaining. Paige loved doing girly things with Abby, and although she did throw a huge horrible fit for Abby when she had to leave the park, she really enjoyed having her around. Abby handled Paige and her attitude very well, and she has quite a bit of experience raising Allison. The last night Abby was here, the kids were fighting over Aunt Abby. I know they're going to miss her.

We are extremely lucky we have someone who loves our kids so much and is willing to take time away from her work, family, and life to help us.

Thanks so much Aunt Abby!! We love you!

Andrea's surgery - salpingectomy

On Tuesday this week, Andrea had salpingectomy surgery to remove her fallopian tubes. 

Late last year, Andrea did the genetic test for the BRCA gene and found that she was BRCA2 positive. The BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations are known to increase the risk of breast cancer and other types of cancer. Specifically, the mutation she carries is 8141del5 - Deleterious. 

Since this discovery, we been attending a local group meeting to discuss BRCA and breast cancer related issues and we've also met with multiple doctors to get their opinions on prophylactic treatment options. There's strong evidence to show that removal of the ovaries, fallopian tubes, and breasts prior to age 40 will decrease Andrea's chances of developing cancer in those areas. 

After much soul searching and thinking, Andrea decided to start this summer with the salpingectomy surgery. We flew in Abby, Andrea's sister, on Monday to help with the kids. Early Tuesday morning, Andrea and I drove to the Mayo Clinic and got Andrea prepped for surgery. I waited in the waiting room for a few hours and finally the surgeon came out and met with me to discuss the surgery. He said that everything went well and from a visual inspection everything looked good. After another hour, Andrea was moved to the PACU (Post Anesthesia Care Unit), and I was able to see her.

Andrea was very brave about the whole thing and it wasn't until after the surgery when she was in the recovery area that she got emotional and teared up. When I came in, she was still a little out of it and very dizzy from the medication. We let her rest and recover for about an hour. We were told that she had to pee before we could leave and the first try she was surprised that she wasn't able to. We maxed and relaxed for another 30 minutes or so and on the second try she was able to go. 

I took her home and got her all situated in bed, then ran out to pick up her pain meds. Later that day, after a nap, she was actually able to get up and walk around a bit. In the days after surgery, she's looked great, and has been in good spirits. She isn't supposed to do much for a couple weeks and isn't cleared to do any exercise or tennis for at least four weeks. We're very pleased that she's able to get around and do most of her normal things like go out to lunch and go places with the family.

Our friends, neighbors, and Andrea's tennis teammates have been amazing with their support for the surgery. Many of them have insisted upon bringing flowers, cards, and meals. Andrea didn't want a lot of attention for the surgery and didn't want people to trouble themselves with doing things for us, but we are very thankful for everything and it definitely brightened her days.

So far so good! Hopefully everything continues to heal up nicely and Andrea can get back to her normal routine very soon this summer!