Complete!

Today Sam's adoption was finalized!! We couldn't be happier. It was a long haul getting here but we are so excited that nothing can take him away now. He is now Samuel Regusci! We had a great day we arrived at the court at 10:30 and went before the judge just a little before 11:00. She asked Matt and I a few question and then pronounced him from here on out our little guy. Our whole family was there including Robob, Nana, Gramps (Don) and Nana Zoe. The judge then gave all 3 kids a beenie baby which they thought was the coolest thing in the world. They still haven't set them down. Afterwards we had a celebratory lunch at CPK. Now everyone is napping. What an awsome day!!

Waiting outside the court.

More waiting, oh and the security guards at the door gave the kids the sherif badges!! I think going through the metal detectors was jsut about the coolest thing.

In court, listening to the Judge.

And it is finalized, and the kids pciked out there beenie.

Everyone.

The Regusci 5 (well 5 and nut).

From Lynn

Howdy –

I thought it was about time for an update as I journey through thi s cancer process. In a nutshell, all is going well, I feel like I am handling chemo and its side effects very well. My biggest problem is working in all the things I want to do and still have time to get to all the various doctor appointments and the rest my body demands.

For those that want more details – I have finished the first four rounds of Chemo on the drugs Adriamycin & Cyclophoshamide. I also had to take some pretty serious antinausea drugs, they caused me to be pretty loopy at times; of course the family found it quite hilarious when I would put the cereal box in the fridge or begin a sentence then forget what I was talking about. Yesterday was my second round of Taxol – this drug doesn’t create the same level of nausea so I don’t have to take such powerful drugs. All of the above drugs create hair loss so I don’t leave the house without a hat or scarf on. Some mornings I will come upstairs with my bare head and Serafina will comment, “Nana, you still look like a boy!” She tells people I will go back to work when I “look like a girl.” I hope she is right and my hair grows back that quickly, but who knows! I did wear a wig to a fundraiser the other night and actually fooled folks! I am so aware of it as a wig it is hard to believe that others don’t realize it is. (By the end of the evening it was itchy and I was scooting it around to scratch my head – Tracy said that gave it away, but only my family members got to see my antics). It is a little hard to go out even with head coverings, I feel like it is a flag saying “she has cancer,” but Tracy won’t let me sit at home. I am surprised I don’t notice other “bald” folks out and about. When you are pregnant you start seeing a million other pregnant people. So knowing how many people are fighting some form of cancer I wonder why I don’t see others either bald or with head coverings.

I am also taking part in a clinical trial using biosphonates. They are administered once a month for 6 months then once every three months for 2.5 years through my port (the same way I get all my chemo and antinausea drugs). The study is hoping that these drugs will delay or prevent bone metastases and increase the chances of long-term disease-free survival.

The biggest hassle I seem to have is getting ready to go anywhere. Last April I would roll out of bed, grab anything in my closet to wear, brush my hair and maybe put a clip in it. If I remembered makeup I would slap on some lipstick then was out the door. Now I will get up planning to run errands with Tracy so lotions are slathered on because of dry skin, then the arm exercises for my lymphedema must be done followed with squeezing my arm into a compression sleeve, then search begins in my closet for ANYTHING that might fit because the steroids (and lack of exercise) has caused me to gain a gross amount of weight), next sunscreen and makeup are needed so I won’t look like the walking dead, then I go through a series of mouth washes to heal/prevent mouth sores, and select headgear to match my outfit. FINALLY I am ready to face the world…..whoops; Tracy has run her errands and is home again. No problem, I am totally worn out from getting ready and need to take a nap!

Kids Say the Darnest Thing

This statement is so true. The past few weeks my 4yr old has just been cracking me up with the things that pop out of her mouth so I just had to share a few:

She is talking to her Noni:
"Yeah Noni, mommy is pregnant, she looked on-line and found out she is pregnant."

Talking to Nana:

"Nana, I have been thinking that maybe I wont be a doctor, is that ok?"
"Of course it is, you can whatever you want, do you have something else in mind?"
"Yes I want to be a fairy."

Later talking with me:

"So you want to be a fairy now?"
"Yes mom, I meant an Angel though not a fairy."
"And why do you want to be an Angel?"
"So I can be close to God."

And Lastly,

"Mom, I have been thinking and I am not so sure about this Kindergarten thing." pause "You should just home school me."



Oh the subject of talking a mini Matteo verbal update, we now say:

Choo Choo
Track
Done
Mama
Nana
Daddy
Trevor
Hi

and..
Shakes our head no and yes

And of course all of these are spoken only when he chooses. There are other random words that pop out every once in while but these are the most frequently used ones.

Little Nut

Well today I had my first OB appointment and it was very interesting. Our little nut is 2wk younger then we excepted!!! Which just throws off all my planning. My doctor said most likely because of the cyst a few months ago my cycle was longer then normal and therefor the normal calculations from the day of your last period doesn't work in my case. The little guy or girl is measuring 6wk and 3days (which at this age is a far more accurate way of determining fetal age then the day of your last cycle.) Now my April 20th due date is really May 2nd. I went ahead and gave her a little pep talk that mommy wanted an April birthday so she will just have to be a few days early. ( I guess I should be excited since I am one of those people that enjoys pregnancy, I was just given 2wks I thought were gone!!)

When I got home I looked back at when I took that first pregnancy test and realized that I got a positive test at 3 1/2 wks, that just seems totally unbelievable. So everything looks great her little heart is beating 140 times a minute, which goes right along with my dreams for a little girl. My OB just laughs at me, he said the wedding ring test is more positive then heart beat!! LOL

Oh and if baby cooperates we should be able to find out the sex sometime need of Nov. early Dec. That will be the next exciting adventure with Little Nut!

Hope you all are having a great week!

Belated

On August 31, 2009 Matt and I celebrated 7 years of wedded bliss. My dear, sweet, wonderful husband took the day off of work (we also had school orientation that day) and made me breakfast in bed complete with Starbucks!! What a man. We spent the day going to the kids school for orientation before the first day and then during nap time my mom stayed at home with the young ones so Matt and I could enjoy a nice anniversary lunch, run to the bank and don't forget the grocery store (with no kids)!! Now that is the way to ring in an anniversary don't you think.

So what did I do for my Husband in return for his day off of work and royal treatment he gave me, I got him a bouquet of combs. Yes hair combs, he complains that I always steel his combs for mine and the kids hair so now he has a more then enough combs to get him by the rest of the year!!

Its fun to look back and to think that we have known each other for over 12yrs, started dating 10yrs ago, married 7yrs ago, have 3 kids and 1 one the way and I love him even more then the first day we met our junior year in high school and I ran home and told my mom "I met the man I am going to marry today..his name is Matt."

Wedding Day, August 31, 2002


Summer 2003

2005

2006


2006



2007 (I found a picture of just us!!)


2007


2008


2009


Happy Belated Anniversary Matt

First Day of School

Today we packed backpacks and lunch boxes and sent all three kids off to school. Sam started 2nd grade, Serafina pre-k and Matteo started in the toddler program. Matteo will only be going two days a week (Tuesday and Thrusday). Since all my Matteo sitter decide to go off to college (karlee) I need a place to send him so I could spend Chemo days with my mom! So it was off to the toddler prorgram at The Laurette, he was so excited to be going to the same school as his big brother and sister that he never even looked back to see if we were gone. And to stick with tradition we had to take our back to school pictures as we left the house. Here are a few of my favorites! (I cant believe next year we will have a 4th baby in the picture, and I thought is was hard to get 3 kids looking at the camera and smiling!)