The Rest of April

 Well, April was busy as evidenced by the Easter holiday and the 2 birthdays I have previously posted about that took place in April. I was relieved when the month was over because near the beginning I was having some major anxiety as Magnus' 4 month scan came near. But anyway, here's what kept us busy during the month...

 Kaylie and I went riding. I always enjoy riding this Luna-babe. She's my favorite.

I had a little scare one night before we said family prayer. Andy was working a graveyard shift so I was just home with the kids. Baron was kneeling down and I noticed a bulge on his back. When I lifted his shirt I noticed this lump next to his spine. I kind of panicked and called my nurse mom, nurse sister, and PA brother, as well as Andy. I sent all of them this photo and they were all perplexed as to what it could be. My brother Doug even came over and looked at it. He didn't think it was emergent, so I made an appointment with the pediatrician the next day to have Baron seen. Turns out it is scoliosis and his spine is curved to the left. The bulge is the muscle tissue that is being pushed over from the vertebrae. We will have to keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't get worse or else he will have to start wearing a brace at night. But phew! Was I ever relieved to hear that diagnosis.

I was able to go on a field trip with my three middle kids who are in the gifted and talented program at their school.  We went to The Leonardo downtown. It was fun to be able to be with all of them at once.

They made lightening in this cage. It was loud and cool.

We have done a lot of work in our yard this spring/summer. One day we spent about 6 hours in the yard for some spring clean-up.  We found a nest in between the wall of our shed and the siding with some brand new babies in it!

  

My feet after we were done:

It snowed (for only like, the third time the whole season) one day and it was so pretty. I love snow.

Just a little record of my medication regime. I take a lot of pills to keep my body working right. Yuck.

As a stylist at Ulta we get the opportunity to have some awesome training classes. We had a training with the Hair-Industry-Famous Sam Villa and were given some of his new hair tools to try out in the salon. The training was really fun and just reminds me why I love to do hair and makes me grateful for this creative outlet.

Me and my partner Mandy at our station.

Knot braid

All of the stylists in my salon and Sam Villa

Movie night!

Laylah had been having a lot of eye issues so I finally took her in to be seen by the eye doctor. He decided she just has allergies. She has never had them before but he said that it can come on in the preteen years. She will likely take after Andy who has TERRIBLE allergies. Poor girl.

Jonah had a states fair at school. He chose to do Virginia and we had fun going to see him and have him tell us all about our other "home" state.

This is Laylah's baby blanket which I have written about before. It is in tatters. She still sleeps with it. It cracks me up.

April mean.... Soccer Season! All 5 of our kids were in soccer this spring. 3 in rec, and 2 in comp It was a busy, busy, busy season. But lots of fun, too. There will be various pictures of soccer throughout this post and my May post.

Jonah has become a soccer star. He was the top (and sometimes only) scorer on his team. He is so much fun to watch.

Magnus' oncologist told me soccer would be fabulous for him to re-develop some coordination skills. So we signed him up. He is so slow and was always running behind the pack. But it was hysterical to watch him play.

 He's #3

On April 20th we took Magnus in for his scan.

We had to get to the hospital by 6:30 AM. 

We got him checked in, vitals taken, and all that stuff. I was so proud of this seasoned kid. He didn't cry ONE time.... until the needles came out.

Then he was sad :(

But turned happy again when he got his prize

They dosed him with versed and some other sleepy meds and as soon as he fell asleep they took him into the MRI room.

Andy and I got breakfast and then went back to recovery to wait.

He was very sleepy.... along with some other people in recovery ;)

 We finally got him to wake up when we told him we had cheetos. But while he was eating them he fell back to sleep...

Trying so hard to keep his eyes open!

And giving mom a smile :)

 After recovery we had an appointment in the cancer clinic for them to go over his scans and also to examine him. I had a nervous feeling in my stomach but kept reassuring myself that everything would be fine and that the doctor would tell me he was still all clear. Andy kept telling me that he was sure everything would be fine. 

Well, his oncologist came in and as she read through the report from the radiologist, it became clear to me that she wasn't saying anything about M being all clear. The radiologist had noticed a tiny new spot that hadn't been there at M's last scan. The oncologist kept trying to say that it was probably nothing and that it would be incredibly rare for the cancer to return this quickly if that's in fact what it was. She said that it was likely scar tissue or an enlarged blood vessel, or something like that. I asked if it was possible for it to be cancer though, just to make sure that I was understanding correctly, and she said that yes, it was possible, just not probable.

Now, to Andy, the eternal optimist, he was able to dismiss it as basically a clean scan and didn't give it another thought while I, on the other hand, cried all the way home. After a couple days I was feeling better about it because after all, even if the cancer is back, there is absolutely nothing I can do until he scans again and we see if the spot has changed or grown. So we decided we would just have a great summer and try our best not to worry about it. We have one more month til he scans and I think about it sometimes, but I really try not to. There's no point.

Isn't he such a cutie though?

I have really liked my red hair. I had to document this fresh glaze I got because it fades so darn fast.

Target shopping. I love Target. Best place in the world.

This is one of Daphne's games and her cute team hugging. They were undefeated this season. I am so proud of them!

 Daphne has the bright yellow cleats on.

Magnus is still getting special deliveries from our awesome friends at the Jesse Rees Foundation. NEGU stands for Never Ever Give Up.

I went on my first ride of the year and dragged Andy along with me on his new bike that I got him for Christmas.  We did an easy 15 miles but he was dying afterwards. I thought it was pretty funny.

School finals came upon me and I had to study study study. 

My mom took me to a day of Women's Conference down at BYU. We always have fun together and I absolutely loved every class we went  to. They were all very good.  We had a delicious lunch too. It was such a fun day.

And that, my friends, is the end of April :)