Hope everyone had a wonderful spring break. We had a long Easter weekend in San Luis Obispo. Took the boys to Hearst Castle which was an absolute pleasure. Everyone enjoyed it. We hung out at the beach and relaxed. Unfortunately, son #1 got a virus and spent the rest of the week lounging around recovering.

There has been a lot of activity on this board on the medical front. Give a shout out to all our families.

Trish (Dancemom) - Elizabeth had surgery #71 last week. All is well and she's free from further surgeries for another year. Yeah!

Gina (4kids4me) - Katie is home from her surgery and doing great!

Lorraine (Wilds) - a more distinct diagnosis for Braden has been given by the geneticists. Hopefully, this will lead to better treatment for him.

Megan - Steps for Brady - Brady, a triplet, had recent surgery for neuroblastoma. He's home and will be celebrating his 2nd birthday next week.

If I've missed someone, I apologize. Please give us any updates you'd like on your kids! In fact, let's do that this week in lieu of questions. Let us know what's going on in your kids lives!

I'll go! Son #1 is always busy with his guitar website he's designed. That, plus aikido and school, keep him very busy. He did get a job for the summer as a lifeguard at a local waterpark so he'll get a taste of the real world soon.

All three "little" guys came back from science camp with big smiles. They had a wonderful time. We're having a heatwave so the summer clothes have come out. Boy, do I have some shopping to do. They have outgrown so much from last year. I filled up two huge garbage bags with great hand-me-downs for friends. Poor "S" didn't have a pair of sandals to wear since he outgrew them. Took "S" and "A" to buy new sandals today. They will need new clothes since they are growing so tall. They are 12 years old and 5'4", 5'5", and 5'9." I'm pretty sure they will be bigger than my oldest son pretty soon.

Have a great week everyone.

Sharon
12 year old b/b/b + 15 year old son

Gosh, I logged in to post a Monday update on Tuesday thinking that I was a day late, but EVERYONE is a day late.

Thanks, Sharon for always remembering Elizabeth and Tom. Elizabeth is doing great. She runs track as a sprinter.....last year before her big surgery she could barely run because of her breathing difficulties. Now she is one of the top sprinters on her team. She is looking forward to going to 2 proms. Her own high school prom and the boy she is going with asked her to his high school's prom. 2 nights in a row. She is wearing the same dress both nights.

Jessica is doing well too and is also one of the top sprinters on the track team. She is also going to the prom. Just one though. No dress yet. We have to work on that since prom is May 9.

Jack is playing on the high school golf team and finished up drama a few week ago. He had the lead role in the spring musical "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory". He was Willy Wonka. Sharon, your boys are all so tall for their ages. A couple years ago when Jack was 14, he was only 5'4" and very whiney about being "short". NOW he is 6'3"!!!

Oh, and dh (Tom) is doing really well. His health has been good. Hopefully we will have a healthy, fun, summer.

Trish Dawson
Mom to bgg (1992 @ 31
weeks)

Sharon- thanks for mentioning Braden in your post - you summarized well his complicated situation. We are thankful to finally have a diagnosis that explains a lot of the mystery symptoms/problems and hope for more effective and comprehensive treatments.
Sounds like your boys are doing well and I am guessing by their sizes eating like crazy !! Wow they are very tall !!! Even Braden has been outgrowing clothes lately- and we are very thankful for that We just got our Costco refund (2% back with executive membership- well worth the $100 membership fee) of $ 200-so that means we spent $10,000 in a year at Costco prices that's a lot of food !!! Well we get clothes, laundry detergent etc..there too- oh the laundry drives me crazy...a good crazy so glad that i have my kids to make such a mess and get so many clothes dirty

We are planning a trip to Boston pretty soon when they can get a team of specialists together to see Braden and come up with a comprehensive plan for him. We had hoped that could happen here, but the specialists here don't seem to communicate well and don't want to explore anything outside their specific specialty. At least Boston is a fun city- someplace we have always wanted to go to and my cousin has a big house outside the city and we can stay with him.

Lorraine

Reach for the heart of God and not just His hands.
Organ donation saves lives!
Life happens when love is given.


http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/bradenwild

Hello all!

I had a great week in Yosemite giving a photo workshop through the Ansel Adams Gallery. We had everything from snow to hot weather. My sister drove down from Spokane to help watch the boys while I was gone.

Bryce and Calder had a great baseball game yesterday. Bryce drove in two runs (one being his brother who had walked). The in the bottom of the last inning with the score tied 8-8, two outs and with two strikes against him, Calder hit a hard grounder up the middle and drove in the winning run.

Dw and I are seeing a councilor (again) to find a way to be closer to each other again. Lots of factors involved and "fault" on both sides. Wish us luck.

Vaughn and the ABC Boys
Alex, Bryce, & Calder
3-31-97 @ 28.5 weeks

I hope you and your wife work things out so you are both happy. A counselor can help.

Sharon
12 year old b/b/b + 15 year old son

Thanks for the updates Sharon - helps to have it listed like that!

We had a great Spring Break last week - went to Canada to see friends and then came home and celebrated the boys bday. they had their first sleepover - invited 4 friends - it was supposed to be 3 (1 each) but I slipped up with another mom of a boy I thought Brendan wanted to invite. They all got along great and it was amazing to see them each have their own friend there. I could really see how and why they gravitate toward different kids. This is the first year for that - they have such a small class, they pretty much had the same friends, but things are changing this year. Seamus is kind of "cool" and into building things, puttering in the woods..., Brendan is so sweet and still into imaginary play, action heroes... and Casey can go either way -has surprised by becoming the social one! they are all playing baseball now (dh is coaching) they are growing too -going through so many clothes!

Hope you all have a great weekend - supposed to be 80 here!
Suzanne
Proud mommy to Seamus, Brendan and Casey 4/17/00