UPDATES!

First, Student Council.

I'll just cut to the chase, Johnny won, and Joey didn't. But in Joey's defense, literally HALF of his class (22 kids) ran, and he came in third, not bad for the new kid. He was actually relieved, because Student Council meets every other Wednesday at SEVEN AM -- YIKES! As most of you know, we are not a morning family. Even our dogs sleep in.

We found out the results on Tuesday, and I thought the Student Council's first meeting was this Wednesday. So I made Mike get Johnny to school bright and early -- even before the janitorial crew showed up. Oops! The first meeting is NEXT Wednesday. The funniest thing was when Mike went to wake Johnny up that morning and asked him why he had to be to school so early, Johnny's groggy reply was, "meetings..."

Joey slept in a few extra minutes, he needed it. The night before he went to see "STOMP!" with Aunt Liz and Suzanne. They had a great time. He much rather stay out late, and sleep in, than go to meetings at 7am. Although his speech was amazing. He could really be a presidential speech writer if he wanted to. I'd rather see him as President though...

Today, Mike took Johnny to the clinic. His counts were way down -- ANC was 500, but everything else was fine. The doc's think it's because he had chemo two weeks ago, and that is probably the cause for the drop. But no matter what, he was scheduled for a spinal today. I woke up with the boys and Johnny pulled me aside and whispered to me, "I ate breakfast". My eyes were as big as saucers. He IS NOT SUPPOSED TO EAT before procedures! We already delayed the spinal by two weeks, so I told the boys to lie. Lie through their teeth when they ask when the last time Johnny ate. We need to agree on a time... let's say 10pm last night. I made everyone repeat the time, and quizzed them just to make sure they had it together. The only reason he can't eat is because of nausea, but they give the kids so much Zofran to combat any type of nausea, I thought it would be okay.

I was right. Johnny's appointment was at 8:30AM, and they didn't even start the procedure until 1pm. Plenty of time to digest the CoCo Puffs he had for breakfast. There was some other stuff they were doing, but the boys didn't even get home until 7pm!

When they came home Mike pulled me aside and told me that the doctor had to stick Johnny THREE times! No, not in the arm, in the spine. That has never happened to us before, and in a way I'm glad I wasn't there. Although, if I were, I'm sure I would have said after the first time they stuck him and couldn't get anything "MOVE OVER! LEMME DO IT!!!!", that, or I would have needed smelling salts.

I am very proud of Mikey staying conscious the whole time. When Joey was just learning to walk, fell, and his tooth went through his tongue, Mike immediately called the doctor. Once he started telling the nurse what happened, he told her "I have to give my wife the phone..." and quickly laid down on the floor. When I took the phone, the first thing the nurse asked me was "How's dad?" -- So the fact that he stayed conscious the entire time the doctor was sighing and making noises every time she couldn't get any fluid, I am very impressed!

The only thing that makes me worry is that with each stick, it's another chance for infection. Most of the time "infections' mean staf. He's sleeping with us tonight, so we will keep you posted (like we have some special powers to protect him from infection). Although we both know that everything will most likely be fine, it still crosses our minds...

Sunday Mike and I are Godparents to Kristin's babies! I can't wait. I was supposed to come early (Saturday night) so Kris and Craig could celebrate their anniversary, but Emma has a cold and with Johnny's low counts I don't want to bring anything home to him. So it will be a quick event for us on Sunday.

SOME REALLY GREAT NEWS: we think we sold our house! WOO HOO!!! OH YEAH, WE SOLD OUR HOUSE NOW! I mean we think we sold the house, I don't want to jinx it. Our real estate agent said the family looks "clean" (financially I guess), and that everything should go as planned. Contracts are signed, and everything is a go. Looks like closing is scheduled for 11/27, but they are trying to move it to 11/15.

I will keep you posted !

Hugs to all

J

Problems with Blogger

Okay, I thought I had too many glasses of wine the other night, but it turns out that Blogger is having difficulties uploading photos -- not me.

So as soon as they get their act together, I will post photos of Buttercup and Sophie, and the rest of the family!

THE WEEK IN REVIEW...

Well it's floodin'down in Texas...



Auntie Em! Auntie Em! --
Don't worry Joey, there's no such thing as "global warming" -- storm clouds always look like were photoshopped onto the sky.



Okay, so I went to the worst place in the neighborhood to take this photo -- but still, it's pretty impressive.



The spinal tap that wasn't



"Uncle! Uncle! I mean, AUNT! AUNT!" Joey and Aunt Liz at the last contest.



Johnny and his trophies -- one for long board and one for short board.



Joey at the last contest... trying out for "BayWatch: Galveston Island".



BUTTERCUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



BUTTERCUP! I love her so much!!!



Okay, this will be pretty much just photos of the past week -- but still pretty good. All is well at the Romano compound -- we even have a new addition -- Buttercup the bunny. She's adorable! Mike asked me if she would curb my thoughts on a puppy, and my remark was less than enthusiastic -- "um, sure, yeah, for now....". He can relate.

Not that kids are anything close to pets, but kinda, they are. We first had Daisy, then she grew and I begged for a baby. Joey came, and that kid grew FAST! So, I begged for another -- Johnny came. That kid was crazy (still is), but eventually grew out of diapers (I thought that would never happen). Once he was out of bottles and diapers I begged for yet another rug rat. Mike tired to talk some sense into me. "We don't have to worry about bottles, nap times or anything, we are free to do what we want now...". Two weeks later, I found out I was knocked up with Soph. Mike still thinks that I "tricked" him, but really, I was 100% on board with his thoughts, yet thankful we had a girl.

Then she grew up. Crap. Can't we have a baby that stays a baby?

Then we got the doodles. WOW. I thought we should have gotten them before Sophie. They would have worn me out. I would have begged that we wouldn't have any more kids. Alas, puppies grow too.

I promised Sophie that once we moved to Galveston I would get her a bunny. Well, we've been down here now for almost six months now, and, well, the bunny found us. Her name is Buttercup and she is an AWESOME bunny. She's not scared, or timid, lets you hold her -- and is litter box trained. I had no idea that they could do that, but they can, and she does. The doodles haven't found her yet, so we don't know how that will work out. Our good friends Carolyn and Gordon have had bunnies in the past and their last one was licked to death by the neighborhood dog (not ours...), but yes, really licked to death. Gordon found the bunny in the cage, dead, covered in slobber -- not one puncture wound -- just licked to death.

This bunny is super cool. She doesn't run to the corner to take cover, just runs around to see what's up and sits on your lap. From what I hear, it's pretty unusual. I have ALWAYS wanted a bunny too -- I mean Sophie has always wanted a bunny, and so far she has been a great bunny mom. Okay, it's only been about three hours, two of which both Sophie and the bunny have been sleeping.

The rest of the photos are from the last contest. The next one is the last weekend in Oct. and the day before the contest, Johnny is scheduled for an LP. So he can't compete. He totally blames ME, but that's okay, he's still a mama's boy. I think Joey and Mike might compete though.

I'll keep you posted!

Much Love,
Jules

I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!

Mike and Johnny at the last surfing contest...


Okay, it's been awhile, and I apologize profusely. I actually had to get out my calendar to see what we have been up to the past few weeks. A LOT!

Mike and I had our 13th wedding anniversary, I had a couple of speaking engagements at The Blood Center, and I took the kids for a couple of doctor's visits -- nothing important, just check-ups. My mind is still stuck in September, I haven't changed any of my calendars yet, maybe that's why I'm so behind! I just now switched to October in my planner, wow -- I can't believe it's half over!

Anyway, here's the update:

The boys (when I say boys, it's always Mike, Joey, and Johnny unless otherwise specified...) and Aunt Liz were all in surfing contests last weekend. Actually Joey helped out, he didn't surf because he would be competing against 17 year olds, but he was there for moral support and decided that next contest he could whip the 17 and under kids butts. Liz of course placed first in every heat, Mikey did really well too, I think he was 2nd and 3rd in his heats. Johnny did really well -- he placed 2nd and 3rd in the shortboard and longboard heats. What's really amazing about it is that he only surfed about 5 minutes for each heat, and during the last one he came in and started crying because he was just to tired to surf. He wanted to, just didn't have the energy.

He was still proud of himself though. He told me later that he was excited for the next contest in a few weeks, and that he is going to try and get first in all of his heats so he can go to the State Championships. The kids have tried soccer, t-ball, and karate, but the thing they keep going back to is surfing, and as long as they want to do it, Mike and I will take them.

Johnny had clinic on Friday, spinal tap and vincristine. Well, just the vincristine. I screwed up. I gave him some meds that he only takes once a week except on spinal tap weeks. I knew that he didn't take it the day he got the LP's (spinals), but I didn't know he couldn't take it before -- it's crazy I know, even the doctor's have a had time explaining why certain meds have to be taken on certain days, at certain times. So we rescheduled for two weeks from now.

His counts were excellent! They looked like a "normal kid", I think he's getting used to the dosage of meds now. Each time we go back to the clinic we go up just a bit and hopefully he will be at full dosage someday! Since he has been doing so well, and we have been keeping our two week schedule that the protocol states, I feel like a stranger at the clinic. It's weird, and hard to explain...

Joey started in the Young Astronaut program they have at school. It's pretty cool. It's an after school program every other week, and they do cool experiments and stuff. They plan to have a astronaut from NASA come and speak to them, and then at the end of the year they will go on a field trip to Space Center Houston/NASA. The boys (just Joey and Johnny) are also running for student council -- we just made posters tonight. Elections will be held on Friday. I will keep you posted!

I guess the biggest distraction we've had was that we leased our house. Didn't sell it, just leased. Our friends that live the street behind us sold their house in ONE WEEK -- but hey, I'm not bitter... Marilyn's house is more than double the size of ours, pool, master suite that not only has his and hers closets, but studies off each side of the bedroom. It's beautiful. So, they have no place to go and asked if they could rent our house until they found something. Of course Mike and I said "HELL YEAH YOU CAN RENT IT!"

So we have been moving our furniture down to Galveston over the past two weeks. I have to say that it feels like home now -- before it felt like we were camping, definitely not permanent or "like home". It's all falling into place now. I guess it's officially-official that we live here now. We still haven't sold our house, but Marilyn said she will let us still show it and we both know that it's temporary. As soon as they find a house/we sell ours, it's final.

If anyone is wondering about Aunt Liz (she's a pilot for CO and does the HOU-HNL runs) she's fine. The earthquake happened enroute, but they still got the clearance to land. Once she landed they didn't have any power, and everything was at a standstill, but she called to let us know she's okay. I called our friends on Kaui (Marshall and Jolie), they felt it, but no damage. We tried to contact our friends on Oahu, but couldn't get through, if they don't have power, probably no email either!!

That's it for now... school pictures are in too. I will post them ASAP!