I'm Calling in the Big Guns

Santa that is. This week the kids have had off because of Thanksgiving break. It's been glorious. Oh wait, not glorious, I mean horrendous. I haven't had a week this hard (this is only Wednesday) in a long time. I am soooo over this week and can't wait to get them back in school. (Sadly they will have 4 whole weeks off starting Dec 9th because Jack and Abigail have to have surgery but that's another story.)

So after asking, telling, begging, threatening, SCREAMING at my kids to get them to clean up their play room I decided to do something my own mom taught me many years ago. I called Santa. Apparently he's not thrilled with the kids behavior either and he has canceled Christmas until he sees a SIGNIFICANT improvement in their behavior. He may decide that they have to have an Elf come and watch them and see that they are really behaving, because today's behavior was so so so not OK.

See. You'd call Santa too.




If you want to see the whole video you can go here http://s917.photobucket.com/albums/ad11/tammiehalcombphotography/?action=view&current=DSCN5948.flv for some reason I can only embed half the video.

Why are they naked? Why can't I keep them dressed?!



http://s917.photobucket.com/albums/ad11/tammiehalcombphotography/?action=view&current=DSCN5949.flv


And yeah, most those cries are WAY fake. Good fun people. Gooooood fun.

Remission!!!!!

Just updating on my last blog post about sweet Cooper. He's in remission!!! He had his EUA (exam under anesthesia) on Thursday and they saw no cancer. Normally they would do the "good luck Cryo" but his scar tissue is getting too close to the center of his eye and they don't want to risk it just in case. So now the Jones family will wait, and live life the way they should; cancer free.

Congratulations Cooper. My heart swells for you knowing you are going to be something fantastic when you're all grown up.

Cooper

When I go to my shoots I always get excited to meet my clients. I wonder how they'll be, how fun it will be to photograph them, and what conversations we will have. Over the last year or so I have met a lot of really amazing people and created friendships that have lasted well beyond our shoot. It's one of my favorite parts of my job, creating bonds that last.

When I scheduled a shoot this summer with the Jones family I knew right away that Tracy and I would become friends. She and I were very similar even down to our birthdays. She also has triplets, which in the triplet community immediately creates a connection most parents just don't understand.

When I got to the beach to photograph her family I had no idea how her son, Cooper, would touch my heart. You see, Cooper is battling, for the second time in his short 5 years, cancer. A very rare, incredibly difficult cancer of the eye known as Medulloepithelioma OS. Generally the type of cancer of the eye that is found is Retinoblastoma, but Cooper doesn't have that, he has an even more rare type. With Medulloepithelioma OS if there is one cell alive it will come back. Unfortunately now Cooper's cancer is showing signs of different types and not wanting to completely die.

Cooper and his gorgeous smile.

Tracy was kind enough to explain to me Cooper's experience with his cancer and his treatments. This is how she describes it.

In August of 07 Cooper all of a sudden showed signs of not being able to see out of his left eye. Thankfully he had a school vision exam the next day. When they covered his right eye he freaked out saying he couldn't see anything. We went to the eye doc that he had been seeing since born (total old school guy, no modern equipment.) he said he had no clue what happened or why. In March of 08 I found an eye doc in TX... he found the spot immediately. He took Cooper to another room, put him in a straight jacket, pried his eye open and while he screamed examined his eye even closer. He then sent us to a specialist immediately. The specialist did an EUA (exam under anesthesia). He said that there was a spot, but that it did not show the normal signs of RB.

So April and May and June they did another EUA, both times saying that it hadn't really changed "that much" and didn't show the "normal" signs of RB. In August we went in for another EUA. Still no answers. At this point I confronted the doctor on having no clue. We agree to fly to Philadelphia to see a world known eye cancer specialist.

We flew there the next week... Monday we spent 8 hours going through grueling exams with him awake. PURE TORTURE! At the end of the day she said that she had a pretty good idea what it was but that we had to stay there and on Wed he was going to have an EUA. He had his EUA and we were told it was Medullo and they treated it with Cryotherapy (needles going to the cancer and they freeze it). October we were able to do the next Cryo in Dallas. Brad returned to Philly on Dec 17 (I was recovering from a surgery and could not go). He had an EUA and we were told "Good luck cryo". They said that the cancer was dead, but they gave one more dose of cryo to make extra sure.

REMISSION!!! We were to go to Dallas again in April. When we went to Dallas for an EUA just to check on things. We were shocked to go into recovery and find his eye the size of a baseball and blood coming down his face. It was back, another spot. Cryo it was. We moved out here (California) June 1st and went to Children's Hospital of LA for July's treatment. It was back. This doctor said the same thing as all the others, "his case is so puzzling... it shows signs of a couple different types of cancer.". He treated it with Cryo. In September we went back... still more cancer. This time he tried Cryo and lazer (burning) of the cancer.

We go back on the 19th of November to see if the treatment worked. Each time Cooper receives treatment his eye swells shut for at least a week. It oozes blood and other fluids, gets stuck together and hurts. The dilation of the pupil can last for an entire month. The doctor told me that Cryo is, "one of the most painful procedures.". For the first few days he has to sleep on the floor next to my bed because he can't open his eye to go to the bathroom or get up in the morning. He FREAKS. We have to spend the next 20 minutes ungluing his eye.

His vision has gone from 20/40 (the day we found out that he couldn't see) to 20/80.... a smidge more and it is 20/100. His right eye is 20/20. We have to patch for at least 4 hours a day in hopes of not losing complete vision in that eye. No one knows what the future holds for his little eye. Enulceation (removal of the eye and the cancer) has been mentioned. When the eye is completely dead, if we can't get this to stop growing and popping up in new spots, that will be our only option. For my son to lose his eye.

Cooper and his sisters. Such a sweet bunch of kids with such an obvious bond.

The bond of triplets. Nothing can break it. Not even cancer.

Brad, Tracy, and their gorgeous children. The strength of this family is incredible. I am certain that I couldn't be as strong as Tracy is. Having a child with cancer is every parents fear, but to actually live it is a parents nightmare.

When Tracy told me Cooper's story I wanted to help. I wanted to take away this child's pain. His poor eye, his sweet caring face, his loving touch; it just breaks my heart into a million pieces to think of him hurting. Not just any child will admire nature the way Cooper did that day at the beach. He really looks at life. You can see it on his inquisitive face that he's really living. Really taking a breath each time and appreciating things we all forget to look at.

Like dandelions.

And carefully holding a Ladybug willing her to fly despite her sandy wings.

There is something extraordinary about this child. He is something special. I can't help him. I can't take away this poor baby's pain and make him all better, but I can think of him. We can all think of him. This Thursday, November 19th, Cooper goes in for another EUA and possibly another round of Cryotherapy. Please keep Cooper in your thoughts. One day this world will benefit greatly from his gentle spirit.

Halloween!

We had such a great Halloween. The morning started out a little rough with the kids feeling a bit tantrum-y but once we got to Denise's house for our Halloween party things really looked up. This year Denise and I went in together on a party and had it at her house. The kids had such a great time. I love seeing them enjoy themselves like they did today. It is so fun to watch them laugh, and play and experience new things.

Before we left for the party I had to snap picture of myself with my Halloween cuties. I never get pictures of them with me so I improvised today and used my poor abused cell phone.

Me and my beautiful baby witch. One day she'll grow up to be a big girl and I'll miss her sweet little innocent witch face. Patient, pretty, smart little Abs. I have such a bond with my baby girl, I am so lucky to be her mom and to be able to experience her warmth and compassion.

Jack, who is next to impossible to keep still for longer than a fraction of a second these days. Sure, its a crappy quality picture that's blurry from trying to wrangle a child with more energy than the sun, but I love it, my little man. My sweet first born baby boy. God I love him.

And Henry, who was feeling particularly pouty this morning. His new camera face is the pout and it cracks me up. Little emotional Henry, some days I feel like he is here to push me as a human being, to figure out how to expand my patience and to see things differently. Others I think he was here to hold my heart in his hands with his sweetness. My baby of the bunch, my ring leader, my love.

My kids and Denise's girls. I am sure I have a picture of Denise and I at about this age together on Halloween but that'd just be embarrassing. Our kids would never grow up to cringe at their pictures, I'm sure.

Henry, Jack, Abigail, Sarah and Leah.

Jack really enjoying the moment. I saw it in his eyes when I took this picture the way he was taking it all in and just looked around for a minute. It was a rare moment for him.

My favorite picture of her in her costume. I see her soul in this picture.

Abs hosting a tea party for Jaylene and Sarah.

They got to make their peanut butter and jelly sandwiches extra spooktacular with cookie cutters.

Jack

Bobbing for apples can be dangerous with a gaggle of 4 year olds, so instead they scooped for apples. No drownings with scooped apples.

Then they pinned the spider on the ghost. Here's Henry getting a look at the ghost before being spun around and sent on his way to pin his spider. Of course, still with his apple.

Abigail with her spider before getting her turn.

Henry won the pin the spider on the ghost game and loved that he got a prize.

Henry admiring his prizes.

Jack playing throw the candy corn through the hoop. He was pretty good at the game too.

After we left there the kids and I stopped by their Grandma Sharon and Grandpa Larry's. They of course had to show them their costumes. It wouldn't be a Halloween without making the rounds after all. Then we went to my parents house where we had dinner and trick or treated a bit. After a long day my babies are now asleep in their beds. It was a good Halloween for all of us, but I am done now with it. I am ready for the family holidays. Bring on Thanksgiving!

Partying it up Preschool Style.

Today was the kids Halloween Festival at their school. I went to hang out with the class for the day and to take pictures of the festivities. It was adorable. All the kids in their little costumes, all excited over what or who they were and running around pretending to be scared of their friends. We got to do crafts, and have a parade, and they got to eat a crap load of food I cringed at. The kids had so much fun, and it was really cute to watch. I am so glad I have the opportunities to be with my kids on their special days.

Jack with some of the kids in his class. He was so happy today. It made my heart happy.

Henry who looks uncomfortable, but had a lot of fun.

See, he does relax a little.

My little witch. She was so sweet today with all her friends. She hugs them, and makes sure they're happy and shares all her craft supplies with them. She is one of the most compassionate and caring little girls I observed in the classroom and I am so glad that she's mine.

Jack and his Devil tail. It's cute and all but when he pulled it between his legs and showed it to all the ladies I got a little concerned.

Henry in the parade. He was hilarious. He marched like he was in an army and strut his stuff all over that parade. He was the only kid to do it like that.

Shy girl. She stood up to show her costume off, got embarrassed, and turned around and sat back down.

It was a great little indoor parade and festival. I am glad it's only once a year. I have glue in my hair, paint on my pants, I am probably covered in germs despite all the hand sanitizer I bathed in, and I have a new appreciation for anyone who can work with twenty 4 year olds and do it with a smile every single day.

The Devil, A Witch and.... Batman.

I guess I shouldn't refer to my son as THE Devil, but he is A devil for Halloween and boy is he cute! I happen to think that I have the cutest devil, witch and Batman out there, but it's possible I might be biased. The kids are so excited about their costumes this year. I love it. Jack tells people he's gonna be a "debil" and Henry thinks everyone should be either Batman or Batgirl. Abigail is pretty excited to be a witch too, though of course, she's a nice pretty witch.

I did take their pictures but, for some reason, whenever I take out my camera now Henry gets all stiff and uncomfortable. In fact, he looks a lot like how I'd feel if someone turned the camera on me. So he has one picture for right now until I get him the day of Halloween just playing, then it should be a little easier to get him looking less, well...

...like this.

The Debil.

God I love this kid.

Abs wasn't really feelin' the whole photoshoot this time either when she normally is all for it. She plopped her little witch buns down and did this. She looks exasperated at the whole process but I love it.

Who knew witches could be so CUTE?!

And here is where it alllll fell apart. These have to be the worst group pictures I've ever taken of my kids. I wasn't going to push them to do them if they didn't want to so when I started getting shots like this one I decided we were pretty much done.

And this one confirmed it. They were over it. If it's no longer fun for them I am not doing it. There's no reason to fight with them over silly pictures.

Halloween should be a lot of fun. We're doing a party with Denise and her kids and then I'll take the kids around so they can get their hands on a ton of crap I won't actually let them eat. How am I gonna manage getting the "bad" candy out of their buckets to put in "good" candy? I dunno, but for anyone that's witnessed the destruction of Red Dye #40 and High Fructose Corn Syrup knows that I am SO not gonna be down with that on my time.

Really quickly for those that are interested, there are some chocolate products that are easy to purchase in the HUGE Halloween packs that are HFCS and Red Dye free. I personally will be handing out Dove chocolates because I found it to be the easiest to find, I will keep these items in the kids stash of candy and remove all the other candies that are not good options. There are so many options out there that Halloween doesn't have to become a time of stress for people conscious of the dangers of HFCS and Red Dye.

Cadbury - Most Varieties
Hershey’s Symphony
Hershey’s 100 Calorie Wafer Bar
Hershey Skor Candy Bar
Hershey Special Dark Candy Bar
Dove - Most varieties

Moth Whisperer.

Abigail absolutely loves moths. They have been flying in at night a lot lately so we're pretty much guaranteed to have one in the house at any given time and Abigail claims them as her own. She holds them, and pets them, and talks to them. I even had one come flying out of my wallet the other day because that's where she kept him for safe keeping. My wallet.

Abigail, the moth whisperer.

Usually the moths don't have names, they are just Moth, but they are always well loved. Today's moth got to have a blanket (tissue) and was rocked in her room for a while. Clearly the shaking moth was cold, not terrified. She's a good little mommy to her moths. I am glad she's found something she can torture, I mean nurture, even if it's a moth.

Eye Death Round 2 (or 4 really depends on how you look at it)

Soooo do you remember the kids first week of school and how I was suffering miserably with what I called "Eye Death"? I looked a little bit like this....





Well sadly now Jack and Abigail have it. I feel so bad for them. It started last night with Jack coming into my room and telling me he had something in his eye. I was half asleep so I said something like, "Muuhef hon huhmmm.", which loosely translated means, 'I'd have no idea if you had a deer in your eye right now, why don't you just curl up with me and we'll deal with it after a cup of coffee and some sunlight. Hmmmm?'. The poor baby kept waking up and crying about his eye hurting so after a couple times of that it hit me that he must be suffering from Eye Death.

How this has spread I am not sure. You see, what my eye infection in actuality was called is Peri Orbital Cellulitis. It is an infection of the soft tissues around the eye. My understanding of Peri Orbital Cellulitis was that it was not contagious, though terribly painful. I was given an antibiotic and an eye drop to cure mine and when that didn't work I was given another eye drop. THEN when it came back for another time I was given another antibiotic eye drop that I was allergic to. It's been good fun. However, I finished the third eye drop now about a week ago and have been OK. Then the kids got it.

Jack. Poor baby, his eyes really hurt him too. I don't know if you can tell this without knowing Jack's eyes personally but he is pretty swollen on his top lid and his eyes almost look cloudy to me. Like his brown is muddied by the infection.

It's thankfully not hindering him from being completely charming at times.

Ms. Abs only has it in her left eye right now (ironically the same eye I had it start in as well as the same eye Jack complained of hurting first) but I am treating both just to keep ahead of the infection.

Still my sweet sensitive baby girl. I thought nothing could have upped her HUGE case of separation anxiety, but this sure has. I hope it passes soon.

I hope that in a couple days the kids will be feeling better. That their drops will have worked and that will finally be the end of this freakin' Eye Death. I am so done with eye goo and antibiotics.

Did I mention that I love October?

'Cause I SO love October. I love the Fall in general (says the California girl who's never seen a true Autumn), the weather (again I'm in California people, it's not a bad place to live), I love the smell, the feel, and knowing that soon all the holidays that bring families together are coming. While this October is not, historically speaking, the best October for me personally it is still October. So in celebration of my most favorite month I did a little mini (and I mean mini, like 15 minutes from start to finish and maybe 15 seconds spent on editing) session with the Hellions.

Here is the resulting images. I sure do love these little boogers.

Jack, Abigail and Henry.
What makes them laugh like this? Why, the word "plastic" of course. I have NO idea why but every time one of my goons says "plastic" they all crack up. BUT it can also be a derogatory term from what I understand because I have had a lot of complaints about someone saying someone was plastic. I think they think they are cussing honestly, but hey, I'm not gonna tell them otherwise.

Sooo would it be so bad if I started that?

Abigail's eyes look closed here but really they're open a little teeny bit. She is just laughing so hard that you can't see her eyes.

Jack Aaron, who really had no intention of sitting at all but I told him if he sat for ONE picture he could get right back up and go play. And there's one.

Henry loves to pretend he's a cat for some reason. So here's Henry the cat.

Handsome Henry.

Gosh he's a cutie.

Abigail, my little mini me.

Baby girl. Look at how pretty she is.

So there you have it. My sweet little Hellions. I can't wait to do their Halloween costume session.... you know, when I figure out what they're gonna be for Halloween.

It Won't Be Like This For Long...

This afternoon was not an easy afternoon. There was blood shed, tears shed, and nerves frazzled, and that was all before 4pm. It was a little wild. The kids are very much so in what I call the, 'Who, What, Why, When, Where, How.... and again' stage. It's a LOT of questions about the same thing over and over and over in triplicate. It's exhausting.

So I went on Facebook (my favorite place to waste time) and posted, "Why? Who? What? When? Why? Why? Why? OMG make the questions stop coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!", as my status. A couple of my good friends commiserated with me and then Teri, whom I've known since I was 10, leaves the link for Darius Rucker's song, 'It Won't Be Like This For Long', as her comment and holy cow, did that put things into perspective again for me. You see, I have never heard this song before, I don't listen to country music, but these words had me bawling.

He didn't have to wake up
He'd been up all night
Layin’ there in bed listenin’
To his new born baby cry
He makes a pot of coffee
He splashes water on his face
His wife gives him a kiss and says
It gonna be OK

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon we'll look back laughin’
At the week we brought her home
This phase is gonna fly by
So baby just hold on
‘Cause it won't be like this for long

Four years later ‘bout 4:30
She's crawling in their bed
And when he drops her off at preschool
She's clinging to his leg
The teacher peels her off of him
He says what can I do
She says now don't you worry
This’ll only last a week or two

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon you'll drop her off
And she won’t even know you're gone
This phase is gonna fly by
If you can just hold on
It won’t be like this for long

Some day soon she'll be a teenager
And at times he'll think she hates him
Then he'll walk her down the aisle
And he'll raise her veil
But right now she's up and cryin’
And the truth is that he don't mind
As he kisses her good night
And she says her prayers

He lays down there beside her
‘Til her eyes are finally closed
And just watchin’ her it breaks his heart
Cause he already knows

It won’t be like this for long
One day soon that little girl is gonna be
All grown up and gone
Yeah, this phase is gonna fly by
So, he's tryin’ to hold on

‘Cause it won’t be like this for long

It won’t be like this for long

That was what I needed. A change in perspective. Some inspiration. An attitude adjustment. So tonight we had our very first Jammie and a Movie night complete with their first hot cocoa.

Layin' down with their pillows and their blankets watching Garfield's Holiday DVD. It's a cute DVD they loved last year and love even more this year. It has the Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas specials all on one disk and they just crack up every time they watch it.

While they were hanging out watching their movie I decided to make them hot cocoa for the first time. I've had the intention (and the mix) for a while just never had the cool weather or the opportunity for it. Tonight was perfect. Cool, windy and comfy.

All three taking their very first sip of it.

Abigail approves.

Jack is in LOVE with hot cocoa and wanted MORE MORE MORE.

Henry loved it, took his sweet time with it as usual, but also didn't stop watching the TV to drink it. He might miss a part he hasn't already memorized ya know.

Jack was not going to miss a drop of his new favorite treat. He tried getting his tongue as far in there as he could.

I am really glad I had the opportunity to change my perspective tonight. Sometimes all it takes is a little reality check to turn your day around. Sure shopping at Target still sucked, and Jack still thought he was going to lose his life when his leg started bleeding, and Henry threw himself down in a spectacular fit when I opened the front door instead of him, but really, it won't be like this for long.