The last two months have been a whirlwind. Curtis was diagnosed with testicular cancer in early April. He had the tumor removed (stage 1 pure embryonal non-seminoma with lymphovascular invasion) and after having CT scans and a brain MRI, was believed to be cancer free. We had a dizzying number of doctor's appointments to help us decide on our next step. We had three options: 1. routine maintenance including frequent blood work and scans 2. RPLND surgery to remove abdominal lymph nodes (where the cancer would spread next, if it did) 3. 1-2 rounds of chemo (to kill anything that might be there that didn't show up on scans) We knew that Curtis had a 50% chance of relapse because of his LVI. But since the surgery is extensive and we didn't want him to be exposed to any unnecessary chemo, we chose routine maintenance. Fast forward a few weeks. Curtis went in for his first round of routine blood work and the tumor markers (alpha-feto protein) were elevated. Because of the elevated AFP, Curtis had to start three rounds of chemo (BEP). This chemo is a really tough regimen but also highly successful (98%). Each round is 3 full weeks and the first week consists of five full days. Weeks 2 and 3 only consist of a short IV infusion on Monday. We are finishing the first week of his 3rd cycle. The tumors markers are already down so we know we are beating this thing! The 2nd cycle was particularly bad with nausea and vomiting, but his doctor seems to have found the magic drug cocktail to keep those symptoms at bay this time. His 3rd cycle is proving to be his best (which is usually not the case). For those of you just finding out, sorry. It's an awkward thing to share and we especially didn't feel right posting it all on Facebook. To those who have been praying and bringing us meals, thank you. You are awesome!

These are the sweet little things I never want to forget! When Peter takes a bath he plays with a bunch of animal squirters. For whatever reason, the penguin always gets put in time out. He says “Penguin, time out!” Poor penguin. Overheard one morning as Peter was waking up and playing with his school bus in his room. “Uh oh bus. What happened? Need help? I coming. I help you. Okay?” He finishes most sentences with “okay?” He’s also starting to have lengthy conversations with his toys! Every morning when Peter leaves for Ms. Barbara’s I say “See you later alligator!” One morning he beat me to it and excitedly said “Bye bye alligator!” It was incredibly cute. One day we got a package in the mail and Peter decided that I needed to wear the box on my head. He had trouble getting it on my head but was polite enough to say “Sorry mommy” every time he bumped me. When I would take the box off and say “It’s too hot in there for mommy” he would put it right back on my head and say “It’s okay mommy” and pat me on the shoulder. I happily wore the box many times that afternoon. Peter has always liked Curious George. Recently, he’s started to like Timmy Time and Thomas the Train. When Peter realized that I had learned the words to the Thomas and Friends song he looked at me like I was the most magical mommy in the world. I think I’ll be learning many more songs! Peter has finally given up on Pajama Time, his favorite bedtime book. He still requests “Rocky Pig” every once in a while though. (we usually rock while reading it and it has a picture of a pig on the cover) We now read Tickling Tigers in his bed. He LOVES “Tickle Tigers.” He is most ticklish on his knees. Some nights we go through his Baby Einstein First Words book afterwards. Then we pray and I tuck him in. And he still sleeps at the foot of his bed- with his monkey pillow, tiger, otter, dog and giraffe! Charlotte is almost 2 months old now and he is finally starting to like having her around. When she fusses, he brings her a blankie and toys and says “Here you go sister. It’s okay.” He also asks to lay down with her in her play gym by saying “Lie down sister?” He then shows her all the hanging toys by saying “Look sister.”

Charlotte was born on April 10th, 2012. She was 8 pounds, 1 ounce and 20¾ inches long. She is perfect in every way! Her birth story begins on Easter Sunday. I woke up feeling super crampy so we ended up not going to church. My first thought was, “Not yet. I have one more week of school to get through!” We had a 3-on-3 student council fundraiser planned and I’m the StuCo sponsor. I ended up contracting all day long and by the evening they were fairly regular at about 9 minutes apart. By that time I had decided, “Who cares about next week! It’s baby time!” Well, I finally decided to just head to bed because the contractions weren’t getting any closer together. I woke up Monday morning (a school holiday) feeling great and had decided baby wasn’t coming. I now had to psych myself up for another week of school. I went to bed as usual Monday night and woke up about 1:30am having contractions. They were about 6 minutes apart, but not painful enough to convince me I was in labor. After about an hour I decided to take a shower to see if the contractions would stop (and also to be clean in case I really was in labor). After my shower the contractions were more like 3 minutes apart, but still not very painful. Since I was attempting a VBAC, I knew I wasn’t supposed to labor fully at home, but I still wasn’t totally sure this was the real thing. Finally, at 3:30 I lost my MP so I decided to call the doctor. He told me to go ahead to the hospital. We called Curtis’ parents to come pick up Peter and we started gathering things for the hospital. The contractions were getting stronger so I was finally convinced that I was really in labor! We left for the hospital around 4:30 and by the time the nurse checked me I was already a 6 (and still not in much pain). I guess that’s the difference between normal labor and the back labor I had experienced with Peter. Dr. Gaitonde got there at 6:00 and by that point I was a 7. We sent for the epidural, not for the pain though. This was agreed upon in advance. Because I was attempting a VBAC, I ran the slight risk of experiencing uterine rupture. If that were to happen (without an epidural), I would’ve been knocked out for an emergency c-section. And there was no way I was going to miss baby girl’s birth! I made it to a 10 by 7:30 and started pushing. Her heart rate dropped a few times, forcing us to stop and have me lay on my side. Finally, at 9:03 am I pushed her out! I wasn’t attempting a VBAC for the “experience” (more for medical reasons) but I have to admit, experiencing a normal delivery was unbelievably amazing. I got so excited when I felt her enter the birth canal and I remember yelling an excited “Oh!” when I felt her come out. Curtis got to cut the cord, which he was very proud to do. And no, he didn’t pass out from the blood! A few minutes later I was able to nurse Charlotte. After about 10 minutes, Charlotte suddenly turned blue (really blue). The nurse grabbed her and called the NICU. By the time everyone had arrived, Charlotte had regained her color and was crying. We tired nursing again. She turned blue again. Our nurse decided to send her to the nursery for observation. About an hour later I was able to go to the nursery and nurse Charlotte while she was hooked up to an oxygen monitor. No blue baby this time! They decided she just had a little trouble with learning to suck, swallow and breathe. After that, Charlotte was able to stay with me for the rest of our hospital stay!

Now that school is out and the house is listed, I have time for a Thorne family update! For those that haven't heard, we are relocating to Dallas. Curtis took a postdoc position at UT Southwestern Medical Center. He is very excited about the research he will be doing! I was blessed to have an easy job search and decided to take a position at Lakehill Prep. I know I'll enjoy being at another independent school and I get to continue to teach the subjects I love most: economics, psychology and world studies! Curtis defends next week and then we'll be making the move down in about 3-4 weeks. We plan to stay with Curtis' parents as we house hunt in Dallas. Hopefully our house here in Nashville will sell quickly. We are still so thankful that we didn't flood. I have to admit that leaving Nashville is a bit bittersweet. We LOVE this city. I had a great job. Peter had THE BEST care. And most of all, I have made some wonderful, lifelong friends. On the flipside, our family will get to see Peter grow up. AND we will finally get to spend some time with our many friends in Dallas that we rarely get to see!

So I will remember...here are some of the things I love about this city:
1. The Village Chapel...I hope we can find another church like this
2. Awesome live music venues...there's nothing like The Ryman
3. Great parks...what am I going to do without Warner Park?
4. Lightning 100...best radio station ever!
5. Trader Joe's
6. Loveless Cafe
7. Pancake Pantry
8. The occasional snow
9. The beautiful landscape...rolling green hills
10. A fun and clean downtown

I will NOT miss the humidity. We lived in Houston and it's nothing like that, but it's humid enough to mess up my hair! We are definitely looking forward to eating real BBQ and Tex-Mex again. There's just nothing here that even comes close! On a side note, Peter turned 7 months yesterday. I just can't believe that it has already been 7 months. And they have been the best 7 months yet. We love being parents, especially to this sweet boy!!!

We've got a big little boy now! He weighed in at 15 lbs, 5oz at his 4 month check-up. Not surprisingly, he was in the 75th percentile for height at 26 inches! Peter also got to try cereal for the first time. His Oma and great uncle Ron were here for the occasion. He seemed to like it but was having more fun smiling for all the flashing cameras. He's a pro at eating his cereal now though. He LOVES to smile, laugh and dance, especially on his favorite quilt from my great aunt Erika. I was making cornbread the other night and every time Ron said "cornbread" Peter belly-laughed. Peter also had many adventures this past week. We took the visiting relatives to see Opryland and The Hermitage, not to mention lots of shopping and eating out! We also successfully nursed in public! Peter is just so much fun these days!

...that's what we keep hearing! We celebrated 3 months on Valentine's Day and packed up most of his 3 month clothing. I just can't believe how fast he's growing. I wish there were a 3 month check-up so I could post his current stats. Either way, we've got a long little guy:) Peter started daycare 4 weeks ago and has made the transition wonderfully. We are so thankful for his caregivers. I was a little worried that going back to work might mess up his schedule, but thankfully it hasn't. He still goes to bed at 8:30 and sleeps until 6:00 when I wake him up to feed him before work. It's always sad leaving him in the morning, but he is well taken care of and gets A LOT of attention. It was also nice to get a few bonus days with him thanks to all the snow we've been getting. Peter still loves his changing table. He starts dancing and smiling the minute you lay him on it. And Curtis even got him to laugh on it! He hates "tummy time," but has been holding up his head for a while. I have to say, he's pretty easy to tote around. He even made it through the entire super bowl at his very first "party!"

Well, I can't believe my little guy turned 2 months last week. Hard to believe that it's about time to go back to work. I'm glad it warmed up a bit so we can spend our last week together enjoying our afternoon walks again. The snow was fun, but it kept us indoors (except for a quick photo!). I can't believe how much has changed in the last month. I had to pack up Peter's newborn clothes:( He weighed in at 11 lbs, 12 oz at his 2 month check-up! He's now in the 75th percentile for height and weigh! He's sleeping through the night- started sleeping about 6 hours straight around 6 weeks and is now sleeping about 8 hours straight. He's still a "cat napper" during the day, but he sleeps so well at night! He smiles all the time now! He absolutely loves being on his changing table (I know that's strange) and he loves his owl mobile. We also started using our Bum Genius cloth diapers. I have to say that cloth diapering is well worth it. It's easy and I never have to buy diapers again! Peter also went on a few outings with us. Daddy took us to Tequila's (our fave Mexican restaurant) for my birthday and we celebrated our anniversary with breakfast at the Loveless. Peter also got to meet the Lee Lab. We all had lunch at Mellow Mushroom and then spent some time in the lab. Peter starts daycare next week so he'll be getting lots of attention from some sweet little girls. They were so interested in little Peter when we brought him for the tour! We're so glad to have found Miss Kathy!