January 19, 2006

Hi everyone!

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season!  Taylor and Cameron had a terrific Christmas enjoying many parties and opening their gifts as we celebrated baby Jesus’ birthday!  Taylor ’s favorite present is his Hot Wheels Hyperpod.  I’m not sure what it is, but it shoots cars out of it and he plays with it all the time!  Cameron, now 19 months old, had a great time rolling around in all the wrapping paper after the gifts were opened.  We also took the boys on their first train ride from Morristown , New Jersey right into Penn Station in Manhattan .  They had the best time riding on a real train!  They pointed to everything out the window and neither of them sat down in their seat the whole way there and back! We went to see the tree at Rockefeller Center , the big Toys-R-Us, St.Patricks Cathedral, and many sights along the way.  The boys loved all the window displays as well, especially the Macy’s Christmas display.  It was also such a treat to not have to drive into the city and deal with traffic!  It was a really fun day for all of us and a tradition we will be sure to continue every year at Christmastime.

Taylor is enjoying school very much and he is now writing letters on his own.  He is always asking questions and he wants to know the details of how everything works.  My Dad is an engineer so we think Taylor is going to follow in his footsteps.   Taylor has also been a big help to me at home now that I have begun babysitting my friends’ 23 month old son Andrew two days a week.  He loves keeping the toddlers busy and being the big boy of the house. We also have some exiting news about Taylor ’s uncle Gary and his band.  They were signed on by a recording company called 785 records!  They will be recording an album in the next few months then touring all summer again.  We wish them all the best!   

Taylor had his now six month scans (PET scan, CT scan, and MRI) on January 10^th and 11^th.  It was also the week of his 2 year anniversary since his last cycle of chemo!  The news is yet again terrific…CANCER FREE!!!  The scans were all clean and he’s good for six more months.  Two years down and three to go before scans are over forever!  He will be 8 when he’s finished.  Each time I call the hospital after his scans to get the results and they tell me he’s fine it’s like receiving the most amazing gift every time!  Words can’t describe it!  While we were waiting for his MRI, I had the opportunity to be interviewed for a MSK newsletter featuring the Child Life Program of pediatrics and they wanted a mom’s input as to how Taylor and I benefited from the program during treatment.  After the interview was over and Taylor was in the MRI, I thought about how he’s come such a long way in so many ways since his cancer treatment.  He’s amazing and he’s truly our little hero.  Matt and I are so proud of him!  God is so good!

His next checkup will be in March, shortly before his 5^th birthday!  We can’t believe he’s almost 5 already.  I have to register him for Kindergarten next month!

We love you all,