Where does the time go?? TIME FOR AN UPDATE!

Hello!!! Has it really been 3 months since my last update?! Time is flying by!! Well, things around here are a little busy! I have been working part time at Wells Fargo since May, and between that and taking care of a toddler and growing a little baby....I am pooped! This pregnancy is definitely a little more challenging because there is not a lot of down time. Little Dylan sure keeps me on my toes! But I love it!

We just saw Dr. Graham this past week and Dylan labs were ABSOLUTELY PERFECT! Just like him!! We were really encouraged also because Dylan grew a whole inch since his last appointment in June!! This was a HUGE milestone because Dylan has been the same height for about 10 months. He is our little shrimp. We even went and saw an endocrinologist to make sure that the chemo and radiation did not mess with his growth hormones. Sure enough, all of his tests came back completely normal (which is AWESOME) and the verdict is that he is just a little guy!! He is now measuring in at a whopping 32 inches tall and 25.5 pounds. He is definitely healthy and plump, but is starting to look like a little boy and not a baby anymore. He is still not talking (which some say is a blessing in disguise). He says about 4 words....Dada, Dog, Night night, and mamma (but only when in distress!). He communicates very well with sign language and he understands everything we say to him, he just does not verbally communicate. We are going to get his hearing tested soon also to rule out any possibilities of hearing loss...but he seems to hear perfectly well.

Dylan is a ball of energy! He LOVES to run around, especially when he is outside! I am so thankful for the cooler weather because he loves to be outdoors! He even ventured in to the grass this past week during physical therapy and was running up and down the hill in the park. This is another huge milestone because normally he will not even go near the grass and cries when you make him walk on it. Hopefully this was not a fluke and he will enjoy the squishy green stuff!!

Dylan also has a new favorite game. We call it the copy game. But the only catch is that YOU have to copy HIM! He is obsessed with it and it is the cutest thing to watch him interact with others! He usually starts by rubbing his fists together and then he goes to town from there. Some of his favorite moves are crossing his arms, patting his tummy, patting his head, lifting his shirt (usually the women dont participate on that one!), and then drumming on anything and everything that is around him! He gets so much joy out of people playing his game with him and it is quite entertaining to watch!! He has so much personality and loves to show off anytime someone gives him the opportunity.

His favorite toys right now are his Doggy--which travels pretty much everywhere with us, and tupperware! I don't even know why we have a house full of toys! He gets into my tupperware cabinet a few times a day and runs around the house banging it and stacking it. Now only if I could train him to put it back in an orderly fashion...that would be perfect!!

Well, as I said before, I am 29 weeks pregnant, and for those of you who don't know already, Dylan is going to have a baby brother! Yes, another boy in the family!! We are so excited to meet little Andrew Graham! We chose to name his middle name after Dylan's beloved oncologist and we are delighted that we could honor him in that way! Plus, its a really cool name!! Erik wants to call Andrew, Drew, and I want to call him Andy....so the lil guy will have lots of names!! Dylan has no clue about what is about to happen in a couple months or who will be coming! He is going to be in for a big surprise!! I cannot wait for him to meet his little brother and hopefully he is kind and gentle to him....we will have to work on that a lot! He will probably try to smother him with hugs and kisses! At least thats what he does to other babies that he sees :) We almost have Baby Andrew's room finished and we moved Dylan to a big boy bed! He is doing amazing in it! I could not have dreamed of a smoother transition! We ended up buying a bunkbed that can also be converted to two twin beds and kept the railing on one of the beds. So Dylan's bed has a short railing almost all the way around it! Its almost like a big boy crib!! He could easily get over the rail, but he has not attempted it yet! He goes to bed like a champ and then waits for me in the morning to get him! I seriously think he is the greatest child ever! Besides, if he did decide to climb out of bed, the little munchkin could not open the door because he is too short!!

Well, that is about all of the exciting news that has been going on for the past few months! I am trying to get as many appointments out of the way before December so that I won't have to worry about them once Andrew gets here. Next up on the list are the hearing test, another eye pressure check in November and we need to set up a dentist appointment to check the growth of his teeth! So much to do and so little time!!

Thank you all for your continued prayers and support!! We love you!!

Dylan is going to be a BIG brother!!

Baby #2 is coming January 5th!! We could not be more excited! We will find out next week whether D will be having a little brother or sister! Regardless, we know that Dylan will be an AMAZING big brother!

Pictures, Pictures....and more Pictures!!

UPDATES

Hi guys! I cannot believe that it is May already!! Time sure does fly when you're having fun!! Things around here have been very exciting the past couple of months! We celebrated Dylan's 2nd birthday! YAY!! I cannot tell you how exciting it is to be able to celebrate something that means so much to us. Every year of life with Dylan is a blessing! Every minute of every day of his life is an answer to prayer. I cannot imagine our lives without our little guy. I love to watch people's faces when they see him running around at church. We had so many people who were praying daily for him, and for his life. You can see the joy of answered prayers in their eyes. He has touched so many lives, and God is using him still to show the POWER of PRAYER. It's amazing to see what God has done and we are overjoyed that we are on the receiving end of those answered prayers!!
Another answered prayer....Dylan's pressure in his eyes is PERFECT!! He went in two weeks ago for his 3 month pressure check, and sure enough, the pressure was in the perfect ranges! I sat in the waiting room praying for good pressure, but in the back of my mind, I was sure I was going to hear bad news. I have grown accustomed to hearing bad news. I was so surprised to hear the good report from the doctor! But WHY am I surprised? We serve a mighty and all-powerful God and He alone holds the future in His hands. Thank you LORD for healing Dylan's eyes! The Doc said that the pressure in both eyes were in the lower ranges. He also did a full eye exam and said that he CANNOT see any signs of damage from the glaucoma!! AMAZING!! Dylan's eyesight has even improved a little!! What an amazing report to hear! PRAISE GOD!
We also attended a Charity Golf Tournament sponsored by UFCW99this past month. We were asked to come and speak to raise support for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. It was a HUGE success! God used Dylan's story to reach into the hearts of people. At the event, we were also very unexpectedly blessed. People started giving us their money from winning the tournament, and also giving Dylan their raffle prizes! One of the prizes raffled off was a go-kart!! And guess what? They gave it to Dylan! He is obviously too small for it...but daddy will enjoy it for him! I love to see how God provides in the most unexpected ways! Thank you to all of the people who attended the event and for blessing us with your generosity!

These last couple of months have been a whirlwind, full of blessings and unexpected surprises! We are looking forward to a wonderful Mother's day and Father's day and celebrating LIFE as a family. Thank you to each and every one of you who keep us in your prayers and who have been by our side ever since our journey began. We love you all so much!

Love, The Praskins

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY DYLAN!!

DYLAN IS 2!!! I cannot believe how fast this year has flown by!! Dylan turned 2 on April 16th. Thank you LORD for our little miracle!!

February Updates

Hello Family and Friends!!

Look who is wearing their glasses! (and actually looking at the camera) He is so adorable, I just want to squeeze him! (and I DO!). He is doing really well lately with wearing his glasses. We usually try a few times a day and he wears them for an hour or two, depending on what we are doing. GOOD JOB DYLAN!! I think he may finally be realizing that they actually help him...such a smart little boy.

Dylan went in for his 3rd eye surgery on January 27th. Just minutes after my mom and I sat down in the waiting room, the doctor came out to talk to us. He said, "We're done, Dylan doesn't need the surgery." We were so surprised! The doc said that he checked the pressure, and both eyes had PERFECT pressure! Now if that is not a miracle, I don't know what is! PRAISE GOD!!! Doc said to keep doing what we are doing....so we will keep PRAYING!! He said that the pressure can change during the day, but he was confident that the pressure would not be going into dangerous levels. WOW!! What a blessing!! Now, we wait. We have to go back in 3 months for another pressure check. Please join us in praying for perfect pressure. We are not expecting anything, but we know that the Lord can heal him indefinitely and that is always our prayer!

Last week, Dylan went to see Dr. Graham, his oncologist. Another AMAZING appointment! Dr. G was very pleased with Dylan's progress and his development. Last time Dr. G saw Dylan, he had just learned how to walk....now Dylan is running everywhere! I love that Dylan and his story has the ability to bring JOY to an office of doctors and nurses who see so many children suffer. His life is a miracle. He is a miracle, and God is the miracle worker. Dylan's blood levels were perfect. They did a full blood draw this appointment, instead of a finger prick. Dylan does not like getting either, but usually the full blood draw is a very painful experience. This time however, he was a SUPER trooper! I give all of the credit to the amazing nurse who found a vein on her first try (always very hard with his chubby little arms), AND also to the Dum Dum sucker that Dylan was slobbering all over!! YAY for candy!! He did not even seem to notice what was going on as long as I kept that yummy sucker in his mouth. It was awesome!! After they drew the blood, all of us looked at each other and were shocked that he did not cry....not one bit! Go Dylan!

Dylan is now 23lbs and 31 inches tall. He is running all over the place, and now experimenting with hopping...one foot at a time. It is quite funny to watch! He is a bundle of energy and blessings. We could not be happier with our little family. Thank you all for your prayers and encouragement. You guys are truly amazing!!

Cherishing every moment,

The Praskins

3rd Time's a Charm??

Hello everyone! We hope you had a WONDERFUL Christmas and are having a GREAT 2011 so far! We are having a blast! I cannot tell you how much fun it is to have a little toddler around the house! HE IS SOOOOO FUN!! He loved Christmas....or at least the wrapping paper :) He now has enough toys to last him for 5 years! He is loving his newfound freedom and loves to run up and down the hallway...and then up and down again. I call him my little wind-up toy...because once you put him down, he does not stop :) He is getting stronger and stronger everyday! He can now stand up all by himself from the middle of the floor. This may not seem like a BIG accomplishment, but to us, it is HUGE! This means his core is getting stronger, and with that, everything else gets stronger. His newest thing that he likes to do is to carry his toys from room to room. He no longer like to grab the 'small' toys, yet the ones that weigh half of his body weight! I hear grunting down the hall...then a big crash, then more grunting, and then he walks in the living room carrying his toy with all his might! It is quite the site to see. Dylan is still not a big talker...not really at all. He CAN say mamma and dadda, but does not do it very often. The only thing he says multiple times a day is 'da' (dog) and yiyyy (lily...our DOG!)....so, he pretty much loves the dog! So, since he is not talking yet, we have begun to learn signing. He has three signs down really well. MORE, PLEASE, and EAT. What else do you need, right?? It's hilarious because whenever we are in the vincinity of his high chair, he does the EAT sign and says ahhhhhhh....like 50 times a day! It cracks me up...he wants to eat all of the time!! This is a good thing in my eyes (but don't worry, I do not feed him 50 times a day). That brings us to the eating. He loves to eat...but it very picky about what he will eat. He is still not eating any type of solids. He will munch on baby crackers, but once a chunk comes off, he starts gagging and trying to fish it out of his mouth. I try to blend up foods, but if they are not 'baby food stage 2' consistency, he freaks out and acts like I am torturing him. As you can imagine, this is very frustrating. He is 21 months old and still eats all pureed food. I would do ANYTHING to have him eat normal food and sometimes meal time is so disheartening. We are working with therapists to train his mouth and muscles, but it's going to be a long process. So, if you think about it, please pray for me and for patience. THANKS SO MUCH!!

Alrighty, on to the bad news. Dylan needs another eye surgery. This will be eye surgery #3. We went in last week to get his pressure checked and the pressure in his right eye was back up. The left eye was still stable, but my guess is that it too will follow in increased pressure (left eye had surgery one month after right eye). Originally, we thought the next step was to put in shunts, but there is still one procedure we can try before that. I am so bad with remember the procedures names, so I will just explain what it is in my 'mommy' terms. During the next surgery, the Dr. will take a laser and cauterize the outside of Dylan's eye, and that will in turn, hopefully reduce the pressure. The good news is that the Dr. could do both eyes in one day because Dylan won't need to wear a patch afterwards. This comes as great news to us because hopefully it will be a lot less traumatizing for Dylan. The surgery is on Thursday at 5pm at Phoenix Children's Hospital. We thank you in advance for your prayers! We can't stand to see him go through anymore surgeries, but we are thankful that there are surgeries available to help him. We probably will not know if the surgery was successful until at least a month later when they will check his pressure again. I will update with any news that we have. Thank you again for being loyal supporters and prayer warriors...WE COULD NOT DO THIS WITHOUT YOU!!

Taking it one day at a time,

The Praskins :)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!

I cannot even begin to express how exciting this Thanksgiving and Christmas has been. No IV meds, no clinic visits, no dressing changes....and we have a HEALTHY BOY!! He is the BEST Christmas present we could ever ask for! 2010 has been a WONDERFUL year and we are so blessed!!

Things have been crazy busy (as usual) at the Praskins house! Dylan is now done with his second surgery on his eyes. He had his right eye done in October, and his left eye done two weeks ago. When they checked the pressure in his right eye, it was at a 13, which is awesome....but we won't know for sure if the surgery worked until the next exam. We have another exam under anesthesia scheduled for January 12th. This exam will be the one that will show us if his pressure is stable or not. PLEASE PRAY that it is! We need his pressure to be reading in the 10-20 range. IF this 2nd round of surgeries did not work, then we will need to go through with a more invasive and permanent surgery.

We also visited Dr. Graham this month. Dylan now only has to go in every two months! YAY!! I still remember driving to Tucson 2 times a week for clinic visits.....SOOOOO glad those days are over. Of course, Dr. G is now closer in Mesa, so that makes the trips even more convenient :) Dr. G was overjoyed to see Dylan's progress and to see him walking around the clinic! Dylan acted like he owned the place and was walking and practically running down all of the halls. He loved all of the attention from the staff and nurses and loved showing off his new skills. It's always a little nerve wrecking when they draw blood and we anxiously await the results. BUT, ALL BLOOD COUNTS WERE PERFECT!! Praise the Lord!

We had our first 'normal' sick week with Dylan last week. The poor little guy got the flu and was making all sorts of messes for mommy to clean up. It was a rough week for all of us, but with lots of cuddle time, we made it through.

Dylan is still cutting some more teeth. Does the teething ever end?! He now has 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. There are 4 more that are making their way through on the bottom and they are taking their sweet time. They are molars and are making Dylan's mouth miserable :( We are hoping once he has some molars in, that he will be more interested in chewing some food. At this point, he only eats pureed foods and won't eat any bites of any kind of food. So, maybe the new chompers will help :)

Well, we are busy getting ready for Christmas and are excited to spend this year NOT worrying about cancer. God is so good, and has blessed us beyond measure!! Our hope and prayer for all of our friends and family is that you CHERISH every single moment with your loved ones....you never know how long you will have them. Thank you for your continued love and support! We love you all and wish you a VERY Merry CHRISTmas!! May your 2011 be filled with lots of LOVE and JOY!!

Loving life and living it for the Lord,

The Praskins

Chicago-Nov 2010

Erik and I had the opportunity to visit one of my best friend's Emily and her hubby Jake. He is going to Moody Bible in Chicago and they live in the heart of the city--it was AWESOME! We decided to leave Dylan with the Grandparents and take a little trip with just the two of us....it was a GREAT idea!! Now don't get me wrong, we love our little stinker, but it is also nice to get time away. I was also glad that he did not have to freeze along with us!! Erik has family close to the city too so we drove out to see them also. It was a fun filled week of friends, family, sightseeing and LOTS of yummy food! We had a blast and are so thankful that we had the opportunity to visit!

Light the Night- November 2010

Hey guys!! Light the Night 2010 was a huge success!! As a team, we raised almost $5000! We had around 140 walkers with all of the 'little' walkers or stroller riders included. Thank you to everyone who was able to make it out to walk in support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and in support of our family. We are truly thankful to each and every one of you who came out to walk with us! And thank you to all of you who were able to help raise funds or donate to this amazing cause. Because of you, someone will be able to hold their loved ones longer and will be able to live better lives!

We all had a special treat that night.....Dylan walked!! He has been walking 5-10 feet for the past few weeks but had never gone further without someone coaxing him. Well, the night before the walk, he decided it was time! He knew that the next evening would be special and wanted to show off for everyone!! He was so cute! There was a crowd of people circled around our precious little miracle, in awe of his progress and his determination to grow and thrive! The night couldn't have been any better. I can't help but think of last year and the position we were in at that time. We had no guarantees and were waiting day by day to see what would happen. What we DID know was that we served an amazing God who had every detail planned, and Who was in complete control of Dylan's precious little life. Today we are in awe of what God has done in Dylan's little body. Although remission does not come without it's challenges, we are enjoying every single minute with our WALKING MIRACLE!

Thank you again for every person who was involved in making this year's Light the Night Walk a huge success. We are surrounded with such an amazing support group of friends and family and we love you all!!

Walking by FAITH,

The Praskins

Dylan is 18 months old!

Can you believe our baby Dylan is 18 months old!! He is getting so big! We decided that it was time to give him a "big" boy haircut. We took him to the kids haircutting place by our house and he sat in the cool red car. I watched as they chopped his crazy wavy hair and tried not to cry. He looks so old now!! Maybe a little closer to his real age :) He is no longer our little baby and is becoming a fun little toddler!!

We had Dylan's eye pressure checked again last wednesday. We were expecting the pressure to be in the 15-20 range as it was the previous pressure check. This was not the case, and the pressure is back up. The surgery was not a success. As you can imagine, this was a huge setback and disappointment, BUT, God is in control and now we go to the next step. The doctor is going to do a 2nd goneotomy on both eyes. He is hoping it will work the second time around. It's hard to predict anything with Dylan because he is so special. There are not any other kids like him. He is a special case :) The doctor has another infant who recently underwent his 2nd goneotomy and it was successful the second time, so there is hope. If the surgery does not work, then the next step would be to put shunts in his eyes to drain the fluid. We want this surgery to be a last resort because it can only be done 4 times in each eye because it causes scar tissue. We are praying for success for this second surgery! Please join us!!
Besides the eye pressure thing, Dylan is doing wonderful!! He now has 6 teeth! Two on the top and four on the bottom. He has been teething for what seems like forever and I will be VERY happy when he is done :) BUT, that is far away! He is chugging along developmentally. He is still really behind according to his age, but he is right on track according to his adjusted age (18 months -8 months of treatment). He is still not walking, but has crawling mastered....he is super speedy!! He CAN walk...he just chooses not to. He will take 7-10 steps from me to daddy, but other than that, he is not interested. A lot of his walking issues have to do with his vision. Which brings us back to his glasses. He hates them! I don't blame him, because if I were his age, I would hate them too. So, until he figures out that the horrible things I keep putting on his face actually help him see....he will be crawling. When he is crawling, he can see the floor below him. When he is 2 feet up, everything is blurry. I will try to get a good pic of him in his glasses and post it. But that will require him to keep them on for more than a minute :) Right now, when I put them on, he almost freezes and won't look around or play, he just concentrates on getting them off....which is hard when I am holding his hands or constantly trying to distract him with toys. It is a process. Please pray for us! I know he will eventually wear them and eventually walk, so I am not too worried.

Thank you for the continued love and support....you guys are AWESOME!!

Love,

The Praskins