Family

Bryan and the boys came up yesterday afternoon and will now be here through surgery. It was so good to see my little guys, it had been a week. They seem to change with these absences from mom, they're just growing up too fast. They enjoyed staying with Grandma and Papa Allred all day then daddy at night the last few days before coming here. We have so much support at home and there is never a moment that those two aren't getting loved and plenty of attention! My mom went back home to get things in order before she and my dad will be back over for Tuesday, as well as Randy and Nancy. We're disappointed to miss the Allred Family Reunion next week but know that in 2010, we'll all be there plus Maddie will be running around!

Last night Derek, Carly and their brother-in-law Nathan came up to give Maddie a blessing. We are so blessed with all of the love from our extended family as well and this kindness and support truly makes a difference in our times of uncertainty. Derek gave a peaceful blessing that will help carry all of us through on Tuesday. It's always so good to spend time with Derek and Carly.

Today we wanted to enjoy the gorgeous Seattle weather, so we packed up all the kids and went to the Woodland Park Zoo. Maddie's stroller works great for carrying her oxygen tank and since we were outside, we weren't so anxious about the "germ factor." It was great to be out. What a cool zoo...lots of exotic animals, our favorites being the giraffes, hippos and lions. Cade's favorite was the bears (too bad we never saw any???) and Jace loved the elephants. Well, the only bear Cade may have seen was me- the "Mama Bear" who protected her little girl cub from people, brothers' dirty hands and germs! We all took great naps this afternoon after all of the fresh air and exercise. Here's some pictures from our zoo adventure today. Tomorrow we'll be heading up to the hospital for the last pre-op preperations then a day of relaxing for the 5 of us, here at the RMH.