Where does he get his energy from??

A phase that has lasted slightly longer than we would have imagined or wished, is Max's tendency to remove his trousers, as well as socks and shoes when he is playing.
It is a clear sign that he is "at home" whenever he gets the urge. But it can sometimes lead to awkward moments for us, in gauging the appropriateness of the urge with the place where the urge presents... if you get my meaning.

So should it be an issue, that my 3-and-a-bit year old wants to undress in shops, cafes, at church, in the park, toddler groups, friend's houses? Probably not. But it keeps my parental "conversative-ometer" fresh and well oiled.

At home, its fine, no problem. See below for details..

Three cheers for slow progress!!

Apart from being edible, the following pictures are suggestive of Louis' most effortless, but greatest accomplishment...





Staying rooted to the spot!!

While some of his friends incl. Sebastian and Mia are crawling/stumbling all over the place, right now Louis stays where you put him, for ages...

He's a gorgeous boy and we obviously wish him every success with his future mobility. But at the moment, with Max supplying energy to the National Grid, we're happy for a few more weeks of Louis "sit-ins".

Updates - Darren

The latest news is that Darren's bone marrow transplant has been delayed until the end of November. Its slightly confusing as to why this is happening, but hopefully the next appointment on Wednesday in Bristol will clear things up.
In the meantime, he is living in the church's flat, while going to the hospital for daily check-ups, blood tests etc and is being well looked after by a committed posse of members from the church.

The flat (unfurnished just before he arrived) has now been filled with furniture including bed, 2 sofas, tv, microwave, tables.. the church's response to his need has been totally amazing.
Understandably, his biggest ongoing worry is his health and the spectre of the oncoming transplant. This costs him a lot of emotional energy and sleep.

We don't see eachother as often as (perhaps) we should. And when we do spend time together, its difficult to raise his sights above these immediate things.
Hardly surprising i know, but its often when we look to the small things that are going ok - things where we can clearly see God at work - that we gain the courage to believe that He (God) is somehow in control of everything else, however hard that is to imagine.
The next few months are going to be very tough for Darren. His prognosis is not amazingly good and he has a lot of personal challenges to face, so he needs all the prayer support that we can possibly manage.

Updates - Family

Claudia
If a candle had 4 ends to burn...
On top of everything she does at home and now at work, Claudia is revising for a GP exam on the 28th. Most of her evenings are spent on the computer answering multiple-choice test questions. If you chance to involve her in conversation in the next 2 weeks, she's likely to offer you 1 of 5 opinions: a, b, c, d or e.

Max
Who has entered the "why" phase in the last week, with a vengeance!
Today we got to 4 generations of "why" on the subject of washing hands after using the toilet, before my patience wore out.

Louis
While his contemporaries are busy testing out their baby-walkers, rolling around or crawling, Louis is still happiest whilst sitting on his Pringle rug with a selection of much-loved, dribbled-on toys. His calm is a welcome contrast to his brother's energy.

Updates - Dad

The ultimate diagnosis reached by the specialists was not lymphoma, but a form of leukaemia (also a blood cancer) known as CLL. After undergoing CT, MRI scans and blood tests... and quite a long wait for the results, the leukaemia cells have only been detected in his salivary glands and are not more widespread as feared.
This is a positive finding which means that his treatment will involve radiotherapy alone and not chemotherapy. He is meeting the radiology consultant tomorrow and will receive 2 lots of radiotherapy treatment next week.

I never "felt" pain from my tumor like he has. But he is a brave man and is dealing resolutely with the chronic discomfort in his mouth.

I still find his diagnosis so hard to believe. Nevertheless, i only hope that i can be there for him as much as he and mum have been there for me.

Another milestone: 1st Indian take-away..

Mmmm (become a blog follower and take advantage of Google's new "smello-vision"(TM) feature!)

Dhansak is a delicious Indian dish of lentils, vegetables, ginger, cumin etc - which, coming our favourite restaurant down the road, differs in spicy-hotness depending on which bag of chillies they happen to be using.

We had an incredibly hot prawn dhansak on the night that Max entered the world. Could the restaurant have been responsible for his induction? If so, Jaflong might have been a choice of middle name instead of Nathanael. I digress...

So it was with more than a little caution that i ordered again last night, knowing full well that my nostalgia could be rewarded with a dash upstairs. Claudia's first week of work at the practise had been overcome, as had my first day looking after the boys - although Max had been spirited away for much of the day by compassionate friends. We, bedraggled parents, deserved a treat!!

Hot though it was, the evening's delicious meal of chicken dhansak, sag aloo, pilau and a peshawari nan ended without a major incident (i had to lie down for a while afterwards, but i blamed the nan bread for that). That's kind-of another recovery milestone - WE DO TAKE-AWAYS.. 40% cheaper too! due to my reduced appetite.

Same, same and ever so slightly different

Its like taking a train journey from the mountains to the desert. The transition between the two terrains is excitingly different as all the changes come thick and fast. And then its just sand and more sand, in every direction, for days.

I do recognise that my recovery, like the train (in this PROFOUND analogy), is moving forward. My posture is improving, i'm just about off the pain killers, i can walk much greater distances etc.
But its oh so frustratingly slow. Today is below average in terms of nausea, vomiting and fatigue.

However, this week has had its own different milestones. Claudia's extended maternity leave ended this week. She is back to 3 days a week at her GP practise. The fact that she has had so much time for the children throughout my entire treatment has been a huge blessing. Louis is now going with Max to nursery for 2 days each week and in due course i will be looking after the boys on Fridays as my strength improves.