June June June (and now it's acutally mid July)

As always, I intend to keep up with this blog and life just gets ahead of me.

We crossed another thing off of our houston bucket list- to go visit the museum of fine arts. However, despite our best hopes, Adler was not much of a fan. Well, except for the yellow colored hallway

And this optical illusion room that made her look almost as tall as daddy :)

Otherwise, we soaked in the "normal life" as much as we could, knowing that all-too-soon I'd be absent from the morning (and often evening) routines

Riggs went to his first dentist appointment. And he loves the toothbrush, but not the dentist it turns out...

Bath time is definitely a favorite for both of them though.

When I last posted, I was just about to start the transition into the clinical realm again, leaving the lab behind. We polished off the end of the research years with a vacation to my co-fellow’s parent’s home in Florida. It proved to be a most excellent reprieve from the daily grind, and we only wished we could stay forever.

 We got off to a rocky start though when adler took an excited tumble in the airport that led to a very fat, very bloody lip.

But that didn’t stop us and her from having an amazing time. She still loved the flight and loved every second of pool and ocean time that we had!

Once we returned we had lots of things happen. Riggs had the second stage of his surgery for his undescended testicle. It was once again nearly cancelled due to a cold (that never ever seems to not be present) but we got to move ahead and get it over with!

He was all smiles in pre-op despite not having had breakfast. 

 

That, of course, rapidly changed when we had to part ways…even his fancy ride couldn’t keep him from balling as he was wheeled into the OR (talk about heart break!)

  

He woke up and definitely wanted to snuggle

 

 

The first day post-op was definitely rough. But after the first 24 hours it was as if he had never had surgery and he was up and about.

Which made it easier for us to have a good time and celebrate my birthday! Adler of course wanted to do a cake but she is slowly learning that mama prefers peach cobbler or pie to cake 😊 (Much to her own dismay…but at least she got ice cream)

 

and, of course, some pool time too!

I also go to go to one final conference before my life is strapped to the hospital for at least a full year. I went to the American society for clinical oncology (ASCO) meeting in Chicago with a few of my co-fellows and I learned that it’s really nice in June in Chicago!

 

 

We had a grand ol’ time, even with masks

 

And when we returned I was sure to catch up on pizza nights with my little man.

 

And giving away the industry toys I picked up at the conference

Water table time and just general silliness.

Next up we celebrated the graduating fellows who were able to celebrate their FINAL graduation. This means the annual karaoke party where everyone dresses up like a musician (or music group). Me and my co-fellows were TLC. I was the T as you can see in this photo.

Sitting in the audience at graduation this year definitely felt more “real” than prior years as I find myself getting closer to that reality.

We also got to sneak in one more major milestone before covid wrecked us for a week  - Riggs got his first haircut. He was not a fan but I sure think he looks really handsome (and a lot older). Although, I do miss his baby curls.

We also go to celebrate Father’s Day mixed in with my call shifts. This year, to beat the heat we did a family fun day to include BBQ at a place we hadn’t tried but was DELICIOUS, called Killen’s BBQ

Then we went to an arcade/mini golf facility that was just so fun! Adler, we thought, would be really keen on mini-golf but sh ewas much more interested in the bright lights of the arcade hat you could see behind the course. 

Then….our world was rocked. Adler asked to go home early from soccer practice because she was tired and “didn’t feel good” and we knew something was really off. Sure enough, later that day she spiked a fever and was really feeling crummy. She tested positive the next day (Sunday) and then we all knew that we were in for a 10 day quarantine from school and I had to wait out at least 7 days from work. Fortunately she recovered in like 36 hours and was happily playing chef as she made "apple doughnuts"

We all kept our fingers crossed that it would only be her, but 24 horus later I was hit, hard. Fevers/chills, fatigue, sore throat, headache, cough—you name it, I basically had it. 

I definitely cried uncle when it came to parenting the two kids while tom tried his best to work from home. TV and tent time 

But I also tried to get creative and the kids played in a rice play-pen (messier than desired but kept them entertained for a while)

And home-made bath paints

And finger paints

Just as I was starting to feel better, Riggs developed symptosm, as did Tom. And sure enough, all 4 of us ended up with positive testss

Suffice it to say, it was a LONG week in our house. We snuck away a little bit here and there because fortunately it rained which means that most people don’t want to go out to the park and we take full advantage of that to be out there alone with our covid ;)

But, we made it through. we survived. And hopefully now we're immune! Riggs did amazingly well and II am SO relieved we didn't wind up in the hospital with him! Maybe this means his respiratory system is finally maturing and we won't have to face such bad illness with the next round of colds?

I will say I'm happy to have my whole family back in healthy order.

I don’t yet have pictures from July uploaded but most of the first week of July consisted of us quarantining in the house. Adler and I did get to escape for some 4^th of July parade fun, but more to come on that.

You may be wondering how the clinical transition is going? Well, it’s a transition that’s for sure. My first day I was in the OR from 7 AM until 11PM and I definitely had the thought “how on earth am I going to get through this for 2 years?” That day was an anomaly, but not one as rare as I would have hoped because this week I also had a day that ended near 10:30 pm in the OR. I missed bedtime more often than I'd like and it's definitely made it tough.

 

I know that I’ll learn A TON and that I’ll come out a totally different person on the other side of this. I just hope that it’s a person I want to be! Here’s to hoping that I keep my sanity and my perspective as I dive into a new world of surgical and chemotherapy training. It's a touch road, but I've got the best family a girl could ask for, rooting for me back at home. (and learning to keep things organized in my absence which of course I love!)