Shortly after we put a door on the playhouse for the boys, I realized it was huge mistake. Ollie figured out that he could close his brother out of the playhouse or even close the dog IN. After warning him for the past several days that if it continued, he would lose the door, today got even worse. Today as Emmett reached his hand in to open the door, Ollie kicked it shut. Emmett’s hand was still between the door and it’s frame as Ollie continued to try to kick it closed.

My solution? Went to the shed, retrieved the drill and took the damn door off.

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Shortly before the sewer backed up yesterday, a transformer blew right across the street from our house. The kids were sitting at their little table eating breakfast and engrossed “Clifford; The Big Red Dog”. When the BOOM rang out through the neighborhood, the kids bounced up in unison like two little kernels of popcorn. It was priceless.

This afternoon, Ollie rode up to me in the backyard on his bicycle. He informed me that he was Super-Hero Boy and asked if I needed any saving. I told him no, I was OK, but the dog sure needed someone to throw her ball. He said, “No, I’m a super hero. I don’t do those kinds of things.” and he rode off.

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It’s a beautiful morning with little kids when the sewer backs up into your bathtub. And while trying to locate the cleaning materials to disinfect said bathtub, you discover that it also backed up under your kitchen sink.

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We’ve been struggling with Emmett’s lymph nodes since Christmas. The swelling goes up and down, he’s been on antibiotics, had blood tests and seen three different doctors. At yesterday’s well-child check-up we finally hit a wall. They’re still swollen and you can feel the little lumps all the way to his shoulder. Our regular pediatrician is out (her oldest daughter is on her second or third round of chemo for nephritic cancer), but the doctor we saw yesterday said she wasn’t comfortable with the swelling all the way down his chain of lymph nodes. We’ve come to the big “B”. Biopsy.

I know it could be a myriad of things causing his swelling, but the elephant in the room is cancer. It makes want to throw up just to think about it. They’re going to cut open a little flap in Emmett’s neck and slice off a sample of his lymph node. Shit.

The biggest immediate hurdle I have to get past is that we won’t even get to our first appointment with the Hematologist until sometime after May 1st. Not only does it take forever to get an appointment, but we’re in the middle of changing insurance policies with Andy’s new job. It’s only been a day, but still I’m having a rough time not letting that terrible thought in the back of my mind cloud everything.

My beautiful, healthy little boy might be sick and we don’t even know. I’m certain this is one of the moments in life that will either kill you or make you stronger. Knowing myself, I know it will make me stronger, I just have to find the path.

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To celebrate Emmett’s birthday, we took the boys for their first camping trip this weekend. We bought the family a tent and gave it to Emmett as a present. Andy and I figure we’ll get a whole lot more use out of a family tent than buying Emmett more toys.

Saturday was fabulous. The weather was gorgeous (about 70 and sunny). We got out to Goose Creek State Park around 11 a.m. and got to work setting up camp. We took entirely too much stuff, but for our first outing, we didn’t do too badly. The boys explored the woods and our new tent, helped Dad gather firewood, and rode their bikes all over the campsite. Here’s Ollie in full-on “help mode”:

We spent the rest of the afternoon cramming our faces with Birthday donuts and then hiking them off. Nana, Rob, and Great-Gramma brought out two dozen Krispy Kremes in a wide array of spring colors. (A little backstory: Emmett had never had a Krispy Kreme until a few months ago, or said the word “need”. Krispy Kreme aired a commercial for their “Valentines’ Assortment” and Emmett walked right up to the TV, pointed and turned to me and said “NEED!”. So when we asked him if he wanted a birthday cake we shouldn’t have been surprised when he said, “No. Donut.”) Anyway, Nana brought the donuts and plenty of paper hats for everyone to wear. They look great, don’t they, folks?

For the few remaining donuts, Emmett insisted on having on his hat to eat them.

We hiked down to an overlook on the creek not too far from our campsite afterward with most of the crowd, including Susan (in all her pink sunglassed pregnant glory) and Jonah. It was an absolute ball.

A cold front blew through around 11 p.m. and it freaked the boys out to hear the wind tear through the trees like that. Other than their windy wake-up call, though, the boys did pretty well. Emmett abandoned his pack and play after the wind and slept with Andy and I, but that was about the only bump in trip.

We’ve got a much better idea what to pack and what not to for next time, so it looks like we have a summer full of camping to look forward to. There’s nothing better, as a little boy, than being told that you can get unlimitedly dirty.

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