Mason and his buddy Brodie

Despite my job’s attempts, today has been a wonderful day.  First of all, Cutler was taken off the IV today and so aside from the main line, he is tube free and able to roam about the cabin.  He was so happy to roam that he quickly rolled over and over and over and over once he was put on the mat on the floor.  He has rolled over once or twice before, but this is the first time he has really proven his abilities so much so that you couldn’t leave him alone or he would roll out the door.  Unfortunately we had to hear about it from Aunt Pat as we were on our way to the soccer game.

Speaking of, Mason’s team got crushed had a lot of fun.  No goals this time and apparently Mason is looking forward to a career as a stunt man as he discovered that thanks to his shin guards it doesn’t hurt to fall and slide.  I know my parents will say that I used to do the same thing (so don’t), but every time someone would fall Mason thought that he needed to fall as well.  He is a team player!

Just call me Hooper

We then went to a birthday party for one of Mason’s friends where Mason got to ride a couple of horses and I got to wrangle a run away pony pulling a buggy.  I showed just how cowboy I was as I reached out and grabbed the reigns and pulled him in.  I think it is time we pack up the house and move out to the country and get us some horses.  Change our last name to Douglas and become good friends with a pig.

We also discovered today that Mason is able to open the back door and sit down next to the pool and dangle his feet in.  He is really developing a mind of his own and his mother’s stubborn streak is shining through and now it is time to really keep the gate to the pool shut and locked.  The weather was so nice, that he thought it was a good idea to get in the pool and tried to convince me that it was a good idea for me to get in the pool.  Good thing he can entertain himself as he plays in the pool, because there was no way I was getting in.

We then took Mason on a shopping trip to pick out his Halloween costume, which was entertaining as he wanted to try on every outfit despite already telling us he wanted Iron Man.  Some pretty cute costumes out there and we let him try on quite a few, but in the end he settled with Iron Man.  He should be fighting evil very soon.

Now I am having the pleasure of sitting on a conference bridge for the past 5 1/2 hours being beat down by the same argument over and over and over again while hanging out with Cutler in the hospital.  Only 1 1/2 more hours before I can hopefully hand off to someone else before starting all over again at noon tomorrow.  As much as this all stinks, I really don’t care anymore because it was such a good day with the family and the smiles and hugs Cutler gave me when I walked in the door.  By the way, he is not in jail, the bars are just on the side of the crib.  Not very welcoming or aesthetically pleasing, but he sleeps just the same.

Loving my daddy

So happy together

Cutler’s final spinal tap labs came back and unfortunately they weren’t completely clean so we are in line for another one next week.  The doctor said there is nothing to worry about as we are still going in the direction we need to be heading and that there were so few.  So no big concerns right now other than the fact that Cutler has to get stuck again, but at least he is asleep when it happens.

Now that Cutler is finished with this round of chemo he finally is going to get a mostly undisturbed evening of sleep, which hopefully means I will get the same if work can settle down.  Last night was a pretty rough night for me emotionally.  I think it is all starting to settle in that the family will be split up for a bit and that is starting to become harder and harder to accept.  I miss being able to lay on the floor with both of my boys.  I miss the smile on Cutler’s face when Melanie walks around the corner with him in the mornings after getting him out of bed.  I miss playing with Mason a little extra more to avoid changing a dirty diaper :), I miss a very large number of things about how simple our life was with all of us in the same house, but I realize that in the long run this is just a minor blip on the radar so we build on Culter’s strength and push on.