I have sat at this computer several times since last night. I just haven't found the energy to update. Sitting here and typing really forces me to think and write things as they are...and things as they are right now aren't that wonderful. No doubt things for our family could always be worse! But I really feel like I'm juggling all I can right now. There is a fine art to balancing a household, taking care of 4 small kids, your marriage, cooking, etc...I really could make a huge list here. The fact is I'm tired. I'm tired for my kids. I am tired of taking my kids to hospitals/doctors. I am tired of saying the same things over and over that involve my children that are sick. I am tired of not loading up with groceries bc I don't want everything to be wasted since I don't know when appt times are in the upcoming days....which means I'm tired of running to the grocery store so often! Ok...enough with me being SO negative! As I said before, things could be worse. So I suck it up, and just move on. As my Daddy has said for years, "I'm tired too, but sometimes you just do what you have to do". That's what I am living off of right now....that and God.

I thank you all for praying for our family. So many times in the last couple of years I have asked you all to pray for the health of my children. Usually they were little babies and unable to tell me when things were bothering them. But, when Houston looks at me with those huge, blue eyes and says it hurts mommy (speaking of his arm) I just feel helpless. Knowing that I can't just kiss it and make it better hurts really bad. Houston is such a strong little boy. And he has a pretty high pain tolerance...didn't get that from me! He isn't complaining much about his arm, but he lays around a lot. He has a short temper with all of us, especially his sisters. He doesn't want anyone in his space, playing with his toys, or anything else similar. He isn't sleeping good anymore (about a wk now) bc he just can't get comfortable for very long. He comes to our room and asks for his cartoons. He will sit in the middle of our bed and watch tv for hours at a time. Most of you know Houston is a BIG sports fan. He's not really a fan of sports players...he's a fan of the actual balls, lol! He LOVES baseball, basketball is a really big deal for him and now with his arm hurting he has developed a LOVE of soccer. Houston is playing with some sort of ball at all times! He also has a new buddy, Terrell Owens. It's all imaginary so don't get excited, lol. He saw the TO show a few weeks ago and saw him playing basketball...although Houston understands he plays football...and they've been big buds ever since :) My mom brought Houston a stuffed horse (this is his favorite animal!!) and he named it TO. Seriously, TO goes everywhere...he goes to bed with him, went to the hospital with him, eats lunch with him, and we all have to stop and watch the TO show if it comes on the tv!! I'm waiting for him to notice him playing football on tv this season. That's will be funny!Oh...let me post this video from yesterday. We were in the van headed to memphis:
The boy is just too funny! And sorry it's sideways..oops.

Anyway now for the serious stuff. For those that don't know what's going on, Houston has a tumor growing in one of his bones at his left wrist. For Houston's age this is very rare that a tumor is growing in the place that it is and at the rate it is growing. It's doubled in size at least twice, if not more, since they found the tumor. They discovered the tumor/cyst (I say both bc until the MRI it's not clear exactly what it is) on 4/30/09 when Houston broke his arm from simply falling off the couch, hands first. He had a small buckle fracture and when it healed without any harm to the tumor things were fine. We knew/thought years down the road we may have to have it drained or removed if it grew or caused further weakening of the bone. In July it grew over a weeks time and we made another appt to follow up with our Orthopedic doctor. He x-rayed and said it had more than doubled and would like us to see a Pediatric Ortho, who sent us to Dr. Heck in Memphis. Dr. Heck is an Oncologist that works with all sorts of tumors in and of the bone. This doesn't mean Houst has cancer...I know most people hear/read Oncology and get worried. But that's not the case, they work with all malignant and benign tumors.

We do not know exactly what this tumor/cyst is but they (all of our Ortho Dr's) assume it is an Aneurysmal bone cyst (ABC). This is a common bone cyst, but not for someone Houston's age. If this is the case it is highly likely it will grow back. Which means it is highly likely we will have to go through this process several more times. If this is an ABC, the plan is to do the surgery and scrape out/hollow the area the cyst is currently in. Dr. Heck will fill the cavity with a man made material that promote bone growth over time. This will allow Houston's bone to hopefully grow back and over time the man made material will go away. Yes, if it comes back this process will have to be repeated! This means Houston will have several x-rays a year to check the progress of the bone growth and determine if anymore cyst are growing.

Also, this tumor/cyst is growing VERY close to Houston's growth plate at his wrist. If it is touching (and I do believe it is, but dr will not confirm until surgery) the growth plate Dr. Heck will not remove the cyst/tumor closest to the growth plate. This would be very dangerous for the future growth of Houston's arm from elbow to wrist. Dr. Heck said he wouldn't discuss this matter further until after surgery bc this is not the main priority right now. Remove the area near/at the growth plate will require another surgery in about 3 years. This is going to really be a long process for Houston and our family. Please remember us in your prayers. Please put us on your Church Prayer List....we appreciate all the prayers and God does listen!

Ok...a few more things

The girls are loving getting attention from their grandparents without Houston around. Their Mimi has painted their toes, my Mom brought them a neat wooden bench for their room..and they've loaded it up with dolls, this Friday their Gammy will be here. They're loving it!

Drew is doing really good wheening off the oxygen. He stayed off Monday night and Tuesday night, but I think he's pretty glad to have it back tonite. He's sleeping so good.

While we were in Memphis we took Houston by Graceland...Go ahead and get excited Myra, lol...Jenn you get a good laugh, ok..moving on. We sat him on the "wall" to take a picture and...turns out this is a No No! He had to get down before we got the pick. But the funny thing is we have the Elf on the Shelf book we bring out at Christmas. It has a little Elf that you name and he comes to watch over the kids for Santa during the Holidays. So, our Elf's name is Elfis! Houston thought we were at Elfis's house...not Elvis, lol!!