August

It's been 2 months from my last update! Lots has been happening in our lives, to say the least. Sofia has been having a fun but mellow summer. Her health had been great which is the most important thing.
Last month she had her third to last lumbar puncture which she handled like a champ. Unfortunately her steroid week left her feeling a bit tired and cranky. Luckily, she bounced back after a play date with a friend!
She was thrilled that Grandma came to stay with us for a week after her surgery. She got to play real Doctor as we all learned the ins and outs of checking blood sugars and giving insulin. We weren't quite prepared for how hard the recovery from her surgery was going to be but she's getting better every day.
This next part of the post is why I haven't sat down to write. I have debated whether or not to share this information. Tonight as we sat at Stanford for 6 hours Mike and I discussed it and decided to share since it's a part of our story. In May we were very very happy to find out that we were expecting another baby. Having more kids was always our plan but it was put on hold when sofia got sick. Sofia has been so excited and had a hard time not telling everyone. She was pretty clear that it had to be a sister so we were all surprised to learn it was a boy. I went in early for all my screenings because of old age! Everything looked perfect. A couple weeks ago sofia went with me to my 4 month check up and sadly we learned the baby had no heartbeat. Because Sofia was with me, I had to act totally normal and my poor doctor didn't know what to do or say. I was scheduled for a d&c and we went on our way. I later explained it all to Sofia and she was more worried about me. Luckily she still thought of the baby as an egg so it wasn't too real for her. Over the week, this event crushed me. I think it was kind of a tipping for my emotions. Mike has been amazing and now we are both focusing on how lucky we are to have two beautiful kids. Part of me feels like maybe I was meant to lose a baby so I lost this one so that I can keep Sofia. But truthfully no one should have to lose any babies. So, I think we have had our fair share of shit to deal with over the past couple of years. Again, this is hard to share but it's hard to write about how we all are and not include this. People keep telling us that we are so strong but we don't have any other choice. Nothing in this life matters more to me than my family! We are obviously still very sad and are taking our time to heal. This next year is going to be about healing, both mind and body, for all of us.
So we move forward...
Last week Mike, the kids and I went on an amazing two night get away to Sonoma. We did nothing but relax and spend time with some dear friends and their kids. It was perfect! Than this past weekend Sofia got to be in a very special fashion show with the Austen Everett Foundation. All of the models were girls who are or have battled cancer. It was such a special event.
Today Sofia went in for her "easy" chemo, which is normally about an hour appointment. Unfortunately she had a clog in her line so they couldn't get a blood return. After port meds and lots of waiting we were finally getting our chemo, 6 hours later. Sofia's numbers looked great. Noni had hand, foot and mouth 3 weeks ago so we are so happy that Sofia didn't get it as well. By the way, hand foot and mouth is AWFUL! I took Noni out of the house once in 3 weeks to go grocery shopping and 4 days later he's so sick! Not looking forward to cold and flu season!!!
Next week Sofia starts school! This year she is going into Junior Kindergarten and we are hopeful she will make it more than she did last year. She is so excited about going to school!!

So, there's our past 2 months in a nutshell. Some sad but mostly good. We will continue to look forward and love hard with happiness and faith. Thank you all for your love and prayers. We don't see or spend time with many people anymore, but we feel the love and appreciate every single prayer.