When Life Gives You Lemons...

As the saying goes, When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Well, life has recently given our family a big bucket of lemons. Over Christmas break my mom broke her rib for no apparent reason so tests were performed to see what happened. Her doctor found a tumor the size of a fist located on my mom's lung which caused her rib to break. After several doctor visits and many more tests my mom has been diagnosed with plasmacytoma. Plasmacytoma is a type of cancer that starts in the plasma cells.

Once more tests results came in, the cancer was given a new name, multiple myeloma. Multiple myeloma begins when a plasma cell becomes abnormal. The abnormal cell divides to make copies of itself by dividing again and again, making more and more abnormal cells. The abnormal plasma cells are myeloma cells. The disease is called "multiple myeloma" because it affects many bones. If myeloma cells collect in only one bone, the single mass is called a plasmacytoma. Multiple myeloma is the most common type of plasma cell tumor and is not the same as bone cancer. Mom only has one tumor, that is located in her lung, and cancer cells around other bones, but these cells have not formed into tumors.

For treatment, she will undergo radiation to shrink the tumor. There will be around 25 radiation treatments. The radiation will eliminate the tumor, which will allow my mom to breathe better and allow the rib to heal. A low dosage of chemotherapy will also be used as a treatment. The cheomotherapy will be used to attack and kill all of the other cancer cell that are in her body. In addition, there will also be a "magic" pill that will assist with the treatment.

The doctor is going to allow for four months of treatment and then they will monitor the remisssion stage. The doctors and nurses have all been amazing and very supportive.

Mom did need to get a blood transfusion this week. Her blood was not producing enough oxygen and the transfusion will help with this and to give her a little more energy. Mom will also get a port put into her chest. The port will allow for easy access for blood work and chemo. This way she will not have to be pricked all the time.

Thank you so much for all of the prayers and positive thoughts being sent to her and our family. I will make sure to keep everyone in the loop. You never expect news like this, but it certainly brings your family closer to each other. It causes you to really look at what is important in life and be thankful for all the kind words, support, and smiles that complete strangers give to you.

Heinze Christmas 2011

Before making our way to Arlington for Christmas, we made a stop in Miles. Kevin and I were able to visit with his grandparents and other family members.

We made it to Arlington the day before Christmas Eve. On Christmas Eve, we were busy cooking in the kitchen and wrapping presents last minute. After dinner, we went to church and then drove around to look at Christmas lights.

This was my first Christmas not to spend with my immediate family and our last Christmas being just the two of us. Christmas morning Kevin cooked breakfast and then we began to open presents. We stopped mid afternoon to get dressed and pick up Am-Ma. Once Am-Ma came over we opend our stocking gifts and finished unwrapping the rest of the presents.

Merry Christmas!

Babies...

This is long overdue... in June, Baby Heinze is going to have a friend.

Congratulations Jennifer and Curtis!

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Christmas was celebrated in San Antonio this past weekend. We started the afternoon by making pralines and then gift giving...

The Bump...

There's no doubt about it, I look PREGNANT! I am wearing maternity clothing and I can feel Baby Heinze moving all over. Kevin is now even able to feel our little boy moving! 20 weeks marked the half way point and it is hard to believe how fast it has gone by.

18 Weeks...

19 Weeks...

20 Weeks...

21 Weeks...

Light the Night for Sight

This year, Kevin and I participated in Light the Night for Sight at Sea World. Light the Night for Sight, is an event that raises money to prevent blindness.

My Pawpaw has now gone completely blind. It started off as macular degeneration and then Pawpaw started to have several hemorrhage in his eyes where he would receive shots in his eye to help control them. Eventually, my Pawpaw lost one of his eyes and it was replaced with a glass eye. At that point in time, he was considered legally blind, but many people would never have known it. Besides reading menus at restaurants, Pawpaw had many coping skills and was very independent. My grandfather has now officially lost sight in both of his eyes and is completely blind. With this all being said, this event was very important to my family.

The event kicked off with a 5K run/ fun walk. It was fun to be at Sea World when it was not so hot and all the Christmas lights throughout the park made the walk very pretty. After the walk there was a dinner, followed by a Shamu performance. A fun night for a great cause.

Turkey Day

Thanksgiving is a day to be thankful for all your blessings. Without a doubt everyone is thankful for their family and that is one reason this holiday is so enjoyable, not to mention the food. Kevin and I started our Thanksgiving weekend in San Antonio and then ventured to Arlington.

It was a big group on Thanksgiving Day, 17 in all. Andrew was even caught cooking in the kitchen!

The day after Thanksgiving, we made our trip to Arlington with the dogs. At this point in time, Kevin's family did not know we were having a boy. Since they were not able to make it down to San Antonio for the reveal party, I still wanted to do something fun for them to reveal the gender of Baby Heinze. So before we went to the house, Kevin and I stopped at Party City to get some balloons. When we arrived to their house everyone quickly found out we are having a boy!

While we were in Arlington, we went to see the Tech/ Baylor game in the Cowboys stadium. In summer 2010, Kevin and I went on a tour of the stadium so we were very excited to be back at a game. It was a good first half, but it was not a fun game to watch after that.

Just in case you were wondering, Macy May and Leroy did great! Leroy loved all the squirrels and wanted to chase them all. This is how I found the dogs one morning... they were both waiting outside the bathroom door wanting for Kevin to finish taking his shower.

And that wraps up our Thanksgiving 2011!

BOY or GIRL

Is Baby Heinze going to be a boy or a girl?

When we first found out we were pregnant we were so excited. We counted down the days until we went to the doctor and got to see our baby for the first time. As time has gone on, we have been more anxious to find out if we are having a boy or a girl.

My friend, Ana, had told me about a gender reveal party way before we were pregnant and I thought it was such a fun idea. The concept is to find out if you are having a boy or girl at the same time your family and close friends find out. I pitched this idea several times to Kevin and he did not want to have any part in it. As much as I tried to convince him, Kevin would not budge. So to compromise, Kevin and I decided that we would find out together at the doctor's office and then have a gender reveal party for the family.

Baby Heinze at 17 weeks (This will be the last time we get to see Baby Heinze before Baby is born.)...

Now, the long part. We went to the doctor on Monday and our party was on Friday. Five days of keeping a secret and five days of family members trying to find out early. For our party, we only had one requirement... you had to wear blue of pink. Blue if you think Baby Heinze will be a boy or pink if you think Baby Heinze will be a girl.

Our house ready for the big reveal...

Team Blue...

Team Pink...

Mommy and Daddy...

And the big secret being revealed. Baby Heinze is a....

BOY!!!!!