Ben's First Hair Cut

Ben went for his first hair cut this week. At first he didn't like having his hair cut but it was more being strapped into a chair with someone he didn't know cutting on his hair. We took him to a place that cuts children's hair. It was a really neat place for kids. Ben's hair stylist was so good with him. He lost quite a bit of hair..He looks like a little boy not a baby anymore...It's had to believe that he is almost 16 months. Where oh where does time go? He is such a handsome little man but of course I'm his Grammy..It's melts my heart to pieces when he calls me Grammy..It's is definitely a very special name..

Picking Raspberries

Jo, Sue, Ben & I went raspberry picking...Ben didn't actually picked the berries...I held him and put some berries in his container. He would then take the berries and try to feed me. So needless to say Jo and Sue pick most of the berries. Ben and I pick only a few as the berry bushes are way too picky for him..Here are a few pics of Ben and the raspberries.

We are trying to pick different berries to eat and then we are freezing most of them..It will be a good treat this winter when we are snowed in again..We are going to go back next week and pick blueberries.....Blueberries are one of Ben's favorites..

Next week we are going to take Ben for his first offical hair cut...Mommy has been holding off...His curls are so cute....but Daddy really wants his hair cut..He wants him to look like a little boy..I think he looks like a very adorable handsome little boy..but of course I'm his Grammy...

Our Little Man

I wanted to share some photos that were recentlly taken of Ben. He's our little precious buddy..I really like Kiddie Kandids in Babies R US in Portland. They do an awesome job taking pictures..








He's our little talking dictionary...He's constantly talking and saying new words..Just the other day he called me Grammy...That made my day!!!

Hugs and kisses

We decided to go visit Aunt Jeanne since it's been awhile since Ben has seen her..While we were there Theresa stopped by with Jasmime. Ben kept going up to her hugging her, kissing her and patting her back and head..It was so cute....He loves kids and babies..He will be such a great big brother..Here's a video of Ben and Jasmime..He had us laughing so much. It's amazing how much little babies and kids bring so much love and joy to our lives.




Update on Cody..The little baby who has leukemia.He's 16 months old. .He just finished his 5th round of chemo...He will be nn the hospital for about 6 more weeks..He has spent most of the last five months in the cancer ward due his chemo treatment and infections..He gets infections so easily and then he has to go back to the hospital...He is still in remission...Which is a miracle..as they didn't give this baby much hope.He has been in remission since his 1st chemo treatment. Once he gets out he will have to be tested monthly..It just goes to so you how much prayer does work..We are just are so thankful..He still has a long way to go but he is just a little miracle...

It's been a long time

It's been so long since I've done my blog.I will try to do a better job...Our computer upstairs has been acting up...It's easier to use the computer upstairs...Ben gets into everything and I mean everything...There's less for him to get into upstairs...

Being with Ben this past year has been wonderful...It's amazing how much joy and love a baby brings into one's live...Right now he's our little chatterbox...He's constantly jabbing...Just in one week he learned; uh oh, turtle, kitty, up and bye bye...I just love listening to his giggles and his little chatter.

We took Ben strawberry picking today...What fun! He kept taking a bite out of a strawberry and then he would put it back in my box..He then would pick another berry, take a bite and put it back in by box...Needless to say, Ben was a strawberry mess...

It's hard to believe that Ben is going to be a big brother..This is a nice surprised..Ben's little sister or brother will be a January baby...I'll have two grand-children to love. The more the merrier..

Grayson, Sarah and John's little boy needs all the prayers we have as he's going through a lot. He has been having seizures...Please pray for his family and the doctors as they treat and monitor Grayson..

Almost a Year

It's so hard to believe that Ben is almost a year..Only a few more weeks..Boy oh boy does time fly...Ben just melts my heart to pieces...This has been one of the best years of my life...I so enjoy spending time with my little guy and seeing him every day..

I;m sorry that I haven't been keeping up with my blog..Life gets so busy and hectic..

Here's a pic of my most favorite little guy..He is such a happy little boy...He love going to daycare and seeing his little friends..A couple of times I have dropped him off at daycare...Once I bring him in he longer sees me...He sees all of his little friends and that's it...he loves babies and kids...

Well have a wonderful week...and enjoy your families...They are one of the most precious things ever...

Cody in Remission

Cody just finished his second round of chemo...He turned one last week while in the hospital...The best news yet is they did a bone marrow test and it came back that he was in remission...I truly believe that it is our answer to prayer..Cody has one of the worst kind of Leukemia that a child can have and six weeks later he's in remission.. We wanted to thank each and every one of you that held Cody in your prayers.. Please continue to pray for him as he continues to be monitor and do more chemo...Cody was able to come home this weekend for about three weeks..He has a nurse that comes in every day to check his vitals and do blood work, etc..He still has to do more chemo. I will keep everyone updated.. Again thank you everyone..The Lord does work in mysterious ways...

Long overdue

It's hard to keep up with posts as it seems we are constantly on the go with Ben..It's seems...let me correct that as we are constantly on the go..It's hard to believe that less than 6 weeks and Ben will be one year old..boy does time fly...
I took Ben out on his sled last week.It was so funny...He kept wanting to get off so I let him..He crawled off..looked around for a minute and decided to crawl right back on..He is such a little character...Here are a couple of pics that I tried to take outside..

Ben loves mirrors...Here's a couple of Ben playing and kissing the baby in the mirror...

Ben does not want to sit still for his weekly pics...Boy oh boy is it a chore to take his pic...

Ben has been awful sick this past week..He has a stomach virus...which causes him to throw up an awful lot along with diarrhea...Needless to say...We are trying to make sure that he doesn't get dehydrated. We are going through so many clothes, towels and sheets...I caught it a couple of days ago and Jason also came down it it.It does not feel good at all...It seems to be going through the whole house..Jo and Sue haven't got it yet....

Happy Valentine Day

Happy Valentine to my special little man...Benjamin...and to his Mommy & Daddy...

Winter Wonderland

Auntie Sue and Grammy took Ben outside for a ride in his sled that his Grandma and Grandpa Libby got for him..It was such a wonderful day..The weather was nice.....not to cold...Ben had fun...He kept smiling and laughing...He is such a joy to be around....Here are a few pics that Auntie Sue and I took..Joleene was trying to get ready for a baby shower so we went outside..

Earlier in the day Joleene was cleanning and trying to organize the office. I took some pics of Ben playing in the boxes..It was keeping him entertain and contain in one area. He is on the go so much..

Spaghetti Dinner

On Tuesday, February 12th at 6:00 P.M. the PTO will be holding their annual spaghetti dinner at East Auburn School cafeteria. Again this year there is no set cost for dinner and instead donations will be accepted and encouraged!

This year they will be donating the money that they collect to a special little boy!

Cody Bryant-Oldham is eleven months old and was recently diagnosed with AML- Acute Myeloid Leukemia. This is one of the most difficult forms of childhood leukemia to treat successfully. He is likely to be hospitalized at the Barbara Bush Children’s Hospital for up to six months for treatment. His illness has created a financial hardship for his parents, Dana and Shannon Bryant-Oldham and we are hoping to help out with our donations.

Hope to see some of you there..

Cody had surgery yesterday since he had a crack in his line. The doctors replaced his line and shunt. Cody's hair is starting to fall out. The other day he touched his hair and some came out..Cody looked at it and said "oh!' The hospital's hairdresser will be shaving his hair so Cody will be a blad baby..otherwise he appears to be doing so much better.. Maybe we can get him some cute hats..

Thank you so much for all of your prayers...They have a long journey ahead of them.

Fund Raiser

We are having a fundraiser on Saturday 1/26/07 at Spare Time Recreation from 11:00-4:00 to help raide money for Cody and his family. There is a bowling tournament going on and we are going to be there raising money for Cody..Please pass the word along to anyone who wants to stop by. It's a good start to raising money for Shannon, Dana and Cody. Hope to see many of you there.

Cody was given platelets yesterday. The doctor also took out one of his lines as he didn't need it at this time..Barb said that his eyes look so much better...

The school PTO is going to put on a Spaghetti Dinner for Cody in the near future..I don't have dates yet...Continue to pray for Cody and his family..They need all the love and support that we can give them.

8th day of Chemo

Cody has had 8 days of chemo.. He has two more days to go for phase one. The doctors also gave him a blood transfusion yesterday. Because of all the liquids and chemo he goes through lots and lots of clothes..He usually goes through 7-8 jammies a day. He tends to retains some fluids thus he has some swelling.. He needs loose clothing so it doesn't bother his shunt which is for the chemo treatments.

Cody is weary of anyone who walks through the door. If he doesn't know you he thinks you are there to poke and prod him.

Shannon tries to keep her spirits up but it is so difficult..Cody turns ll months in two days..He is still active as he is crawling and standing. The floor is very slippery so Cody needs socks that have grippers on them.

We want to thank all the different people who offer to get PJ's, socks and other things for Cody. It is so much appreciated by everyone. Thanks a million to all of Cody's angels and friends out there. Is so amazing how much people care that don't even know Cody.

Please continue to pray for Cody and his family.. We will try to keep everyone updated and posted on how Cody is doing

Spaghetti Anyone

I wanted to share some photos of Ben from the other night. He was eating spaghetti and loved it. Of course he wore more that he actually ate. It's so amazing how much he's grown. He's into everything...The laugh and smile of Ben just melts my heart. I know you've heard it plenty of times..but It's the greatest thing being Grammy....I don't know what I ever did without them before..of course I was a Auntie...Which is great...it prepared me for being a Grammy..

Auntie Sue babysit last night...She was getting Ben ready for bed..She told Ben..let's go upstairs...to get ready for bed..Ben told her no...Our little man is so independent already...Boy are we in trouble...

I just wanted to thank everyone so much for praying tor Cody. He ended up in ICU with a fever of 105 but they were able to bring it down. He was only there for 24 hours and than he was able to go back to his room. The doctor said that it was normal for kids to get a fever after they start chemo. It usually doesn't happen so fast.. He's holding his own with lots of prayer from everyone.

Update on Cody

Cody is such a little trooper. As far as Leukemia is concerned there are two kinds you could have , ALL or AML, Aml being the worse of the two.They did find out yesterday that Cody does indeed have AML....., the prognosis for children Cody's age is not good, for children 1-4 yrs old with AML they have a 23% survival rate.

Phase 1 is the first round of chemo.which started today. They will do 10 treatments in 1 month. Then they will stop and do another test and see what his count is.If there are still cancer cells they will wait a bit and then begin Phase 2 which is the 2nd round of chemo, 10 treatments for another month, stop , test again, and do Phase 3 if needed which is another round of chemo. After Phase 3 is when the decision would be made if he would need to have a bone marrow transplant.He is scheduled to be in the hospital for the next 6 weeks, but it could be up to 6 months. Because his immune system would be down, he is likely to catch many things, but it would not be from others necessarily , but from himself and the bacteria that his own body creates, he won';t be able to fight them. His blood type is O+ and they are looking into what can be done to have people tested as possible donors for the bone marrow if needed.

A normal child/ person should have a white blood cell count around 7500, when Cody went into the hospital for testing his count was at 70, by Tuesday his white blood cell count was at 125.The good piece of news was that when they did his spinal test there were no cancer cells found there so that means there is no cancer in his organs or body cells, so that is good.

Please continue to pray for Cody and his family. It's so hard to imagine such a little guy fighting for his life..I will have a picture tomorrow and will post it so you have a picture of him when you pray for him. Thanks so much for all of your prayers..

Prayers for Cody

I want to ask all of you if you would pray for a little baby who has been diagnose with Leukemia. Cody Oldham is 10 1/2 months old. He is a first baby to Shannon and Dana Oldham. They are taking this real hard.

Cody hasn't been feeling well for quite some time. Shannon had to take him to the emergency room Friday night...They finally diagnosed him with Leukemia.

They are to be back at the hospital for 9am Monday morning. They will be doing the bone marrow test at that time and will get results on Tuesday as to what kind of Leukemia it is and what stage it is at. Once they know this they will begin the first round of chemotherapy for 6 weeks. There is a possibility that Cody could not return home for 6months once they begin. It is very serious when an infant of Cody's age gets Leukemia. They do not know how long he has had it and the doctor said it would be pretty difficult to determine that. The doctor said he has a 50/50 chance at this point.

It sounds like the doctor is very honest and forthright with them. The doctor told them that the test will be sent to New Mexico and Maryland-to John Hopkins for results. The Barbara Bush hospital in Portland works hand in hand with St. Jude, John Hopkins and Dana Farber providing the same treatment that they do at their facilities so Cody is in great care there and the doctor said if he felt they needed to be elsewhere he would send them.The swelling around Cody's eyes and his full body rash have most likely been caused by the amoxocylin they had given for his sinus infection last week. He is no longer on meds for that as they will not help. His belly is tender in spots, his face hurts as well to touch, they noticed some swelling in his legs along the sock line, so there are symptoms appearing and as the doctor gave them more possible symptoms of Leukemia, they were able to connect a few , like his excessive sweating and easy bruising, etc...
There are two possible types of Leukemia, one much worse than the other....so we'll keep praying for the best possible outcome in this situation.

So please, please keep them in your prayers. He is such a sweet and adorable little baby boy. So please pray for Cody and his family and the doctors.

Our Little Man

Wow! Where does time go? The little baby that Joleene and Jason brought home has turned into a little boy. He talks so much...and is constantly on the go..He crawls and climbs everywhere. We have to be on constant alert..He loves to pull himself up. It's now no Ben, No Ben!! Let me tell you about my day with Ben.

I usually babysit Ben on Mondays since It's Grammy's day. Ben and I was playing with his train on the rug. Ben loves to play with trains. Any way I had to run into the kitchen for a moment. The kitchen is only a few feet from the living room.I ran back into the living room to find Ben wasn't sitting on the rug playing anymore. I started yelling, Benjamin! Benjamin!! I thought he might have crawled under the chair or something but he wasn't there. I turned around and Ben was sitting by the front door watching his Grammy frantically looking and calling him..What a learning experience..

Later on I had to go to the bathroom which was right next to the living room. Ben decided he had to follow me and he proceeded to try to get into the cat food..My little man was getting into trouble again. We were so excited when Ben started crawling forgetting what kind of mischief he would be getting into...Needless to say Ben and Grammy had an exciting day..Grammy was worned out by the time Joleene came home but I wouldn't give up my Grammy Day for anything.

I do love spending time with my little man. It's my special time with him. It's so amazing how much one little baby can make us turn into mush. I just love his little laugh and smile. He jabbles and talks so much.. Ben brings so much love and laughter into our lives..Here are a few pics that we have taken. I will try to do better and update more often...Have a wonderful week...