No Excuse

Ok I have no excuse to not have updated a post since July. Well I have been traveling a lot, been absorbed by Facebook and Alex's Caringbridge site. So I do have excuses, not necessarily vaild but I will throw them out there anyway. We are all doing fine and I will update just a bit on Alex since you can get more information about his Cystic Hygroma treatment on his caringbridge site ( www.caringbridge.com/visit/alexhoward ). So Alex had did very well with his first treatment and it seemed to go down quite a bit. Two weeks later I was in Toronto for work and saw via webcam call with my husband that his CH was just huge. So I called his Dr. from Toronto, and big props to Dr. Chaudhry at MUSC. Within 1 minute of calling the hospital, he was on the phone with me. Amazing!!! Anyway, he said to try not to worry and we would be seeing him soon as his appointment was coming up. We went back to MUSC on August 10th and Alex's CH was starting to go back down. Alex had his second treatment last Tuesday and did very well. His CH didn't go down like it did after the first treatment but it is just a wait and see thing. I am waiting for his office to call me to set up our next treatment in 4-6 weeks. It's hard, so hard to see your child lay in the hospital. I am thankful for people God has placed in our path that we have been able to connect with, that can understand what it is we are dealing with. So we are just back to the waiting game to see what it does between now and our next treatment. Other than the CH Alex is normal, healthy and just great. He is just about to turn 11 months old. He says Ma Ma, Da Da, Ella, Mi Mi and just yesterday I was saying Poppi to him and he said Pa Pa (well something very close to that) and he said it again today....Can't wait for my dad to hear that!!! He also says bye bye and waves and is starting to say "up" when he is picked up. He has been standing on his own for about a month and took 1-2 steps a few weeks ago and he is still at that point. He is so close to walking, he will take that step or two and then just slowly sit down. He will be running before I know it!!! Can't believe my little boy will be 1 next month.

Now, little miss Ella. She is just growing up so much!!! She just started school Tuesday and is now in real "big kids school - kindergarten" Last year she went to the school half days for K4 but now it's all day with the big kids. She loves it. Her first day we walked into the room and her teacher knew her name and showed Ella the bunnys and hamsters and frogs they have in class. Ella was in heaven. I was trying to kiss on her and hug her and have those special mommy moments....Ella just waved me off and said "bye mom" Oh how it hurts, but oh how proud I am. I love her independence and her being to inquisitive!!! I will blink my eye and she will be in high school!!

Stephen and I are doing well. We are both happy that my travels are over for this year. It was great to go to all the places I was able to travel to for work, it truly is a blessing that God put me in this job, doing my hearts desire....serving Him internationally. I am as blessed to have a husband that supports that and helps so much with everything. I know it's not easy when I am gone but he doesn't complain. I will post some photos soon of Ella's first day of school and of Alex's treatment. I will try to update more often.

Holly