Fun times

I decided to just make another slideshow of pictures from my trip to see Mariah. I had a great time, it was nice to get away for a fun reason for a change, and also to hang out and have some girl time. I realized how long it had been since I had actually seen Mariah last...and it will not be that long again! And I won't be offended if Kenai forgets me again, although, he actually did pretty well while I was there with remembering who I was.

The weekend went by way too fast, but we managed to do a lot of things. We went to Bodega, where I was able to grab some new sand for my collection. Had some yummy "Chicago" pizza and went out for drinks. Caught the newest Harry Potter movie before heading out to Sonoma for wine tastings. We also spent an afternoon in San Francisco and did the evening tour of Alcatraz. I have to recommend doing to night tour if you go...it was worth it just to see the hospital wing. One fun thing about the hospital was seeing the old x-ray equipment, and being able to tell the tour guide what things were. Random fact: on Alcatraz, x-ray was an inmate job. I would love to go back and be able to spend more time in the Sonoma/Napa area for sure, and there is always more to see and places to eat in San Francisco!


Thanks for letting me come invade your space for a few days...and for being my tour guide!

Girl Time!

On Wednesday morning, I leave for a weekend trip to San Francisco to visit my "number 1" friend, Mariah. I am so excited to just hang out, have girl time, drink, soak up some CA sun, maybe check out a winery, and go on the night tour of Alcatraz! I saw this article on Yahoo today and it made me even MORE excited, and admittedly a little more creeped out by the whole idea of Alcatraz at night!

I feel like I've been leaving my boys a lot lately, which is sort of true. I went to Oregon in May, Chicago in June, and now I'll be going to California. But this is the first trip I'm going on that will be FUN and relaxing. Not one filled with either classes, workshops, doctor's appointments...or any other form of stress! I definitely feel like I've earned this trip.

Petaluma, here I come!!!!

Slideshows

Well, I had to do 3 different slideshows of our Mexico pictures because slide.com only allows 50 pictures per slideshow. So here they are...hopefully you won't be too bored

Fun in the sun

Yesterday, we rented a car for the day and ventured around the bay to the Vallarta Zoo. I didn't really know what to expect, but I have to say it will definitely be on my list of recommendations for people traveling to this area with kids. It was cheap (they only charged for Todd and I) and for under $5 you could buy a bag of different foods to feed the animals with. Mason was a huge fan of feeding the different animals, especially the monkeys! The only problem is that I'm afraid now he will be expecting to do this at home next time we visit the AK Zoo.

In other news, not much to report other than more sun and sand :) Not a bad way to spend time, if you ask me. Mason did ask today to go back to his "old home", but he luckily got over it pretty quickly. One thing about being here, he is so exhausted by the time he goes down for nap or night time, so his patience (and mine) have been a little thinner than usual. But like Todd said tonight, the times of seeing his sheer joy and elation over the simplest things here totally out-number and out-weigh the tantrums he has.

Here are a few (ok, ten) more pictures....I have taken SO many on this vacation, I'm actually impressed with myself. I think a lot has to do with the fact that I have such a little cutie to take pictures of now, and a lot also has to do with my awesome new camera that is so fun to play with. Pretty sure I'll have to put a slideshow together when we get home to share them with everyone. Don't worry, unlike these, they really aren't ALL just of Mason.

Another disappointment when we get home will be going back to a normal sized tub

My goofy boy getting ready for bed

He is obsessed with all the fountains here (he can't say fountain, and calls them "mountains")

Feeding a llama

Todd looks a little nervous feeding the antelope

Anyone know a three letter word for flightless bird (sorry, I'm a crossword nerd)

The zebras were surprisingly hungry

Look at the tongue on that thing! This giraffe was so gentle. It was my personal favorite

Mason loved the monkeys. And he was so impressed they could open the peanut shells

One happy kid at the zoo

Happy Baby, Happy Mama

Have I told you all how much I love this little boy?

And, by the way, where the hell was Mexico when I had post-partum depression? Seriously, this place is the cure!

Out of the office

The Loy Family is currently out enjoying some sun. Here are a few pictures to hold you all over until our return.

Let the battle begin!

This week I was in Chicago for an evaluation for a clinical trial at Northwestern University. My bestie Mariah flew from Buffalo to hang out with me for a couple days of fun, which was fantastic! We had fun walking around in the freezing-ass cold downtown "Magnificent Mile", hanging out with the "Captain" in our hotel room, and even made it to PF Chang's for a yummy dinner. So, while that would have been wonderful enough...there's MORE!

First...I had a new MRI while I was there of my brain and neck. The last couple scans I've had over the past year have had new and/or active lesions, so I expected this one to be the same. I was AMAZED when the doctor told me that I don't currently have any active spots!

Second...I met with a neurologist at the Rush University MS Center. It was crazy to be in this place that ONLY has MS patients. Sitting in the waiting room caused a little anxiety just seeing little glimpses into what my future could possibly hold for me...but the neurologist was a really nice man and felt like all in all I was doing "ok". He did an EDSS test, which is a bunch of things that measure your overall disability. I got a 3. If you want to know more about what that means go here.

Third....I met with an immunologist at Northwestern University Memorial Hospital. Super cool guy from Montana who is leading this amazing study. Read this...it's amazing. Anyway, I meet ALL the criteria for his amazing clinical trial and I AM A CANDIDATE!!! I really went into this thinking that they were going to tell me no for whatever reason, so I was so happy when he said I qualified. In a nutshell they are harvesting the patient's stem cells, giving the patient chemotherapy to wipe out their immune system, then transfusing the stem cells back in. Basically this "resets" the immune system and the new white blood cells won't attack my myelin anymore.

What it all means........for now, at least, it means that the battle of the insurance company will begin. Basically, all insurance companies deny this at first and then the appeal process begins. Luckily, the people at Northwestern have been through this lots of times and will hopefully know just what to do. Assuming that insurance finally approves the treatment, I will go back to Chicago for about a week or two of more testing to make sure my body will handle everything. After that is one final hurdle that I have no control over...whether I'm in the "control" or the "treatment" group. The good news about the control is that if my EDSS goes up a point while on MS meds, I have the option of transferring into the treatment group.

I know this is a lot of information, and I'm sure I left tons of things out, but the main point was to tell you all that I at least qualify! So...cross your fingers for me, or say a prayer, or do a little dance...basically just send some good vibes my way, please.

Aloha!

We are all having a blast in Hawaii. The trip here was ok...Mason did not want to sleep, but he was in a pretty good mood, so I can't really complain. Our condo is on the ground floor, which is great because we can just open the sliding glass door and play in the grass with Mason. Our neighbors have a little girl who is 15 months old, which is also great for our little guy to have a new friend.

We have quite the water baby on our hands. He loves the pool and the ocean! The kiddie pool is especially great because he can climb in and out of it all by himself. He has absolutely no fear, which is good and bad, as you can imagine.

We still have a few more days left in paradise, but I thought I'd update you all with a few pics of our trip so far. I'll get together a full slide-show when we are home. Oh, by the way, I see A-rage has been getting plenty of snow the last couple of days. So sorry we're missing that.

My little water baby

Cheesing at lunch time.

Baby toes in the surf

Hey, this sand stuff is pretty neat

First taste of shaved ice...it was a hit!

Colorado 2009

Sorry it took so long to get these posted...enjoy!

Leaving on a jet plane

We are leaving tonight for Denver. I dropped Mason off with my parents this afternoon to play for a while so I could actually get some packing done. It's amazing how much more we have to take for such a tiny little person! I'm hoping that Mr. Mason sleeps on his first flight...for us as well as all the other passengers. Todd and I are both excited to see family and show off our little man. I'll try to post some pictures while we're gone.