Winter Concert!

The boys had their Winter Band Concert tonight! Their 6th grade band was also selected to play in Des Moines in May for the Iowa Bandmasters Association, so that was exciting news! The concert was excellent and Conner and Ben did a wonderful job playing their trombones!

Ice Fishing...

Nick took Ben and Conner ice fishing today!  They caught lots of fish!

Games and Dinner...

Conner had a great basketball game this morning! He scored 3 baskets and did an awesome job of being a good team player! Nana and Gramps were able to come watch so that added to the fun. The boys played some games in the afternoon and then we went out for dinner with Nana and Gramps! 

Snow Day, Take Two...

We had our second snow day today! The boys were excited to get outside and play! Ben made a snow toilet... I don't know why... And then Conner made a couple of snowmen. The last one was really big and he needed Ben's help to put the snowman together! They had lots of fun!

New Plan...

We traveled to Iowa City in the snow today so that Ben could start a new medicine at the hospital. His platelets dropped back down, so we are on to the next treatment plan. We will be making weekly trips to the Children's Hospital for a while... Hoping and praying that this new treatment will give our boy some relief from the stress and anxiety he has been feeling! With all the snow, it was a slow trip home, so we stopped in North Liberty to get some dinner. 

Snow Day...

Legos on a snow day!!!

Little Win...

Today was the day we headed back to Iowa City to talk to Ben's doctor about a new plan. We found out that after a week of being on a high dose steroid after that awful bloody nose, Ben's platelet count jumped up 159k. That is the highest it has been all year, although we know it is entirely due to the steroid. Life has taught us to take the little wins when we can, so Ben was really happy hearing that his count was so high and he didn't care about the reason! The doctor told us about a different med that he thinks is worth a try, so when Ben's count gets back down to under 50k, we will be making weekly trips to IC so Ben can get the drug injected at the hospital. (Maybe, just maybe, the count will stay up????) Anyhow, for tonight, we decided to celebrate and enjoy the win today. Ben requested Zoey's pizza and Conner agreed, so we enjoyed pizza and a zookie! Another reason to celebrate, as the boys reminded us after school, is that today is their half birthday!!!

Monday...

Well, our Monday morning did not go according to plan... Ben woke up with a bloody nose and it would not quit. After almost 2 hours, I took Ben to the ER so that we could make sure he wasn't losing too much blood. His nose pretty much quit on the way to the hospital, but he still wanted to get it checked out. So, Ben and I spent 4 hours in the ER. In the end, his platelet count has dipped down to 10k, but he did get some breakfast out of the whole ordeal... We will be making an earlier than scheduled trip back to Iowa City next week to see his doctor!

New Year...