Getting through it!

A week and a half ago, Jared finished his second round of chemo, and it was a rough one. He was pretty sick during that week and about 4 days after. His toughest side affect has been the nausea. All the foods he has eaten in the last month sound gross to him, so the difficult part is thinking of new things for him to eat. Jared is a bald man now, but he still is as hot as ever to me :) . Next week will be his last round of chemo, and we are very excited to be done with all of this craziness. It will be nice to see Jared getting better constantly, instead of getting better and then getting poisoned again, like he gets as he is going through this treatment. When I think about what we have been through for the last 2 1/2 months...I'm seriously amazed. I just can't believe we are making it through this. Before all this happened, I used to think in the my head, "wouldn't it be the worst thing if Jared ever got really sick?" HA! Funny how sometimes the brain foreshadows what is going to happen. However, we are almost through, and I never thought we would be able to handle something like this. It just goes to show, that you can handle just about anything that life throws at you. It may suck, and you may not want to be going through it, but you can make it through anything, especially when you rely on Heavenly Father to help you through it.
The kids are doing great! Cameron is a giant. He is wearing 12 month clothes now, and he is only 4 months old! He is not very chubby, it's his body length...it's insane. I feel like he has grown up so much. Brent is a social butterfly, and loves playing with friends, going to the beach, and watching his "shows" in the morning on TV.

What's up with us?....CHEMO

Well, it's been 2 weeks, since Jared's first day of Chemotherapy, and we are still all alive. Jared progressively got more sick as the days went by. However, he is doing good as of right now. It's kind of guess as to what he is going to feel like each minute, because he can go from feeling great to feeling really bad. We are 1/3 of the way done though, that's good. Both Jared and I cannot wait until all this is done with, and we can move on from it.
Our 2 boys are growing like weeds, especially Cameron. I will be taking both of them to the doctor for their checkups, Cameron for his 4 month and Brent for his 3 year. I have to hold off on Vaccinations until Jared is done with his treatment. (I guess they can effect him or something.) Jared gets the ruler out every week to measure Cameron and get his percentage on the charts. He is 26 1/2 inches long...and that is the 99th percentile in height for his age. Brent is about average, he has stayed in the 5oth percent for about a year now. Cameron is developing, and loves to watch Brent do things. Brent is enjoying all his little play dates with his friends. For a 3 year old he has a busy schedule. Tuesday - Preschool, Weds- Preschool activity, Thurs. - Legoland, Friday- Puppet show @ the library, plus all the other little mommy/kid outings. We are trying to keep him busy, because he is so full of energy. Overall, we have maintained our normal life considering the crazy onbstacle that is happening in our family.

The Roller Coaster of LIFE

So, as most of you know, life has not been normal for the Underwood Family. A month ago Jared was diagnosed with Testicular Cancer, and has had surgery and will be starting Chemotherapy on Monday. The way this all started was, back in December, Jared was out surfing. He felt some tenderness under his left nipple, and decided he should go in and get it checked since it was bothering him. After having numerous test, and blood work done, it was determined that the lump under his nipple was being caused by a hormonal imbalance, which was caused by cancer in his testicle. After getting a CT scan of his body, the scan showed that there was also cancer in his lymph nodes (2 tumors in the abdomen, by his kidneys). He has surgery right away to remove the cancer from his testicle, and they are going to do chemotherapy to get rid of the rest. He has stage 2B testicular cancer, so chemotherapy is really the only option. As I said earlier, he will be started chemotherapy on Monday, where he will go into the hospital and get hooked to an IV for 7 hours for 5 days straight, and then he will have 2 weeks off, and do it again 2 more times. As you know there are ALOT of side affects from chemo, but they don't know how many side affects and how severe they will be on each person, since everybody handles it in different ways. Jared has to make sure he doesn't get sick from our kids since he will be more prone to infection. Hopefully none of us will get sick! I feel very optimistic that after he completes his rounds of chemo that the cancer will be gone, and we can move on with our lives, but I don't expect that until September, when Jared will be fully recovered from some serious poison in his body. It has been a whirlwind of a month, and I can't wait until this nightmare is over. However, on a positive note, I have learned alot about myself, and Jared and I are more in love than we ever have been, This cancer has not torn our family apart, it has only made us stronger, and our testimony that Heavenly Father is there listening to our prayers. I'm so grateful for my belief, it truly has gotten me through such a dark time in my life.
Cameron is sleeping through the night (8pm-7am), and he is laughing and cooing all the time. He is such a sweet baby, I feel so blessed that I can't even put it into words. Brent is also becoming quite the brainiac. He says words that I have never said to him, and has an interest in everything in life, except playing dolls which is a good thing. Brent's Grammy Underwood, gave him a boy doll when Cameron was born so he wouldn't feel left out, and I had Brent get it out the other day. I told him to burp the doll, and he gave the doll 2 pats and threw it across the room, and ran to get some blocks to play with. I died laughing. Thank you to all my friends and family for you love, concern, and support. This is what the gospel is all about...taking care of each other during our time on the earth.

Day by Day

Things are getting easier in the Underwood household as of recently. Cameron is a growing little boy, who is in the 95th percentile in height and the 50th percentile in weight. Brent as a baby was always really tall, but we took his measurements the other day, and for a 3 year old, he is average height. Jared has given up on the fact that Brent is going to be 6'5 like him, so he is hoping Cameron will be nice and tall. I'm average height for a girl, so he can't expect us to have giants for children. Cameron is on a good schedule, and the nice part, is that Brent and Cameron go down for naps at the same time...hallelujah! Because of daylight savings time, it stays light till 7 or 7:30, and it reminds me of summer. I'm so excited for summer, and to be living so close to the beach. I think Cameron will be at the perfect age this summer, to be immobile at the beach, and Brent is old enough to play, play, play. All that's left to do is to get rid of any evidence on my body that I have had a baby...ugh! Our lease in the house we are living in is up in August, and Jared and I are getting ready to start making offers on houses that we might want to buy. I'm SO excited to be a homeowner again in San Diego. Fun times!

A family of 4

As we are approaching Cameron's 1 month birthday, I feel as though time has flown by and that it has also gone very slow. Weird how it can feel that way. Cameron is growing, and eating and doing all the new born things. Brent is also doing quite well considering the changes in our family. He is very helpful in getting things for me, like diapers, and my cell phone. And the other day, Cameron was crying in his bouncy chair, and Brent went to the chair and lightly rocked it, so Cameron would stop crying. This is a big improvement over Brent using the bouncy chair as a sling shot , and Cameron being the object getting slinged. (Luckily I was in the room for that one).
We just celebrated Jared's 32nd birthday...he is an old man. I made him carrot cake, per his request, and it came out so good. The recipe is from Barefoot Contessa, and it was TDF (To Die For). As 4 weeks post-pardom is approaching, I'm finding myself getting a little anxious to get my body back into shape. I know I need to wait, so I don't injure myself, but I'm tired of feeling like a Frump! Only 2 more weeks to go, until I get the go ahead to start my hard-core diet and exercise. It is exciting, but at the same time, I'm dreading it.

Baby Cameron Pic

Alot of you have requested a better picture of Cameron. I finally took one last night, I'm the WORST at remembering to take pictures, and downloading them. I really wish I could have my own personal historian. So, here he is, sweeter than ever. It is interesting to see the differences between him and Brent. I think Brent was way more difficult than Cameron, or maybe it gets easier with each one you have.

He Arrived!!!!

So, on January 31st at 6:01 am Cameron Grant Underwood arrived! I went into labor at 11pm on Friday night, and had him in the morning. He was 7 pounds 12 ounces, 21 inches long, with brown hair, and a skinny body. Brent was the same, I guess I don't have beefy babies. I lost alot of blood during labor, so much, that I had to get a blood transfusion. Pretty creepy that someone elses blood is in my body now. I'm still pretty anemic, but I'm taking it easy, and trying to recuperate. Doctors say that my blood levels won't be the way they were until about 6 weeks post-pardom. But, everything else is going great! Cameron is a good baby, and Brent is being a good big brother. It will be very interesting when I'm on my own without any help taking care of 2 kids, but each day gets easier. I feel so blessed to have a healthy baby, and a growing family, it is amazing how much love you feel for each child, I truly am grateful.