When your platelets suck......

.....you get nasty bruises!

My little buddy bonked his head on the bathtub last night (Wednesday) and I literally watched as his skin filled up with blood (he didn't break the skin open)! It was crazy... he had the biggest lump to the left of his eye and then this morning woke up with the black eye. The blood must have drained into the eyelid area and spread around a little bit.

He is such a trooper and did just fine. After a few cuddles and kisses he was ready to get in the tub.

And as you can see it hasn't affected his mood... He is still as happy as ever!

He does look like he got kicked in the eye. Poor thing!

Praise God for His healing powers!

p.s. If you didn't know... Aaron and Andrew both have a genetic disorder called "Epstein's Syndrome" that is characterized by a very low platelet count with over-sized (giant) platelets (macrothrombocytopenia), hearing loss, kidney dysfunction, and cataracts.

Aaron has everything except the cataracts and so far Andrew only has the giant platelets/low platelet count.

These special boys follow up at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN every year with a hematologist (blood doctor) and nephrologist (kidney doctor). They also saw a medical genetics doctor this past year to confirm their diagnosis. We love our Mayo doctors (Dr. Khan, Dr. Monico, and Dr. Wick)!!

As a point of reference a "normal" person has a platelet count of 150,000 to 450,000 platelets per microliter of blood. Aaron and Andrew have between 2,000 to 11,000 platelets per microliter of blood at any given time. In most individuals if platelet levels fall below 20,000 per microliter, spontaneous bleeding may occur and is considered a life-threatening risk.

We have had many (all) doctors say that in spite of the low number of platelets that they have, they work! The reason they say this is because Aaron has lead a relatively healthy life and is 33 years old.

We pray everyday that their platelets will continue to work and that God will grant both of them LONG, healthy lives!

no big deal...

Andrew is a true walker now.... like I titled this post, it's no big deal for him!

Crazy boys!

Typical happy Andrew. In this picture you can really see how his nose bruises were healing. They are gone now but he has 3 bruises across his forehead!

The day after I spent the whole morning organizing Gabe's toys. ...

For some unknown reason this child has a fascination with the bathroom.

At least this time he didn't have his hands in the toilet (that I know of).

We went to Florida!

May 9-14 we went to the Florida Keys with our good friends Matt, Katie, & Claire. They drove from Arkansas and we flew from Iowa. We rented a house on Cudjoe Key about 25 miles east of Key West. While there we did a lot of relaxing, swimming, eating seafood and visiting. We did a little bit of fishing and sight-seeing including an evening on Key West. We had a great time with the McEntire's (as always) and came home rested and relaxed!

The boys prepare for our flight from Chicago to Miami. Gabe loved the airplane and was so good on all the flights. Andrew did about as well as you would expect a 10 & 1/2 month old should.

Super tired in Florida.

Our house... 116 Spanish Main, Cudjoe Key, FL.

Claire and Andrew. She loved the baby... good thing since one is going to join her real soon!

The beach at Bahia Honda State Park. Andrew had fun crawling in and eating the sand.

You can't really see it in this picture but he has sand all over his mouth. We had to spray sunscreen directly on his head because he would not wear a hat.

Gabe liked splashing in the waves and playing in the sand.

Heading out to fish by the bridge on the west side of Cudjoe Key. They were SO tired but did great!

Goofing off on the boat.

This is the only fish I caught. It's a whopper!

So tired....

So tired....

Andrew liked to take a dip in the pool. Gabe & Claire had the most fun when Aaron was swimming. They fought over who got to jump in to him, etc..

Andrew ate so many things and liked everything. Here he is eating a piece of Mahi Mahi (aka dolphin). He also ate conch fritters, shrimp, coleslaw, key lime pie, grouper, french fries, corn, black beans, rice, watermelon, tomatoes, yogurt, nutri-grain bars, and many things I am forgetting.

Here is one restaurants variation of the conch fritter. These were more like hush puppies. Yum!

We were at the sunset festival in Mallory Square in Key West. They have all sorts of street performers performing for money and vendors selling art and different items.

Andrew & I in Mallory Square. You can see Matt, Katie, and Claire just behind us.

The McEntire Family

These guys had audience members holding the ropes that held up their ladder.

The Flatau Family

If you put money in this guys bucket he made this strange whistling noise and acted like a robot fixing a bike. He would also give candy to the kids. When Gabe did it the guy made a motion like Gabe was crazy.... Let's think about this, who is crazier.... the kid who is afraid of you or the silver painted man with a whistle in his throat? This is a picture of Claire.. she wasn't one bit afraid of this guy.

Little buddies. Gabe wouldn't hold my hand because he only wanted to hold Claire's hand.

Riding the shuttle bus from returning the car in Miami. Andrew was so thrilled at riding on the seat, he smiled the whole way to the airport.

Proof that Katie and I were on this trip together! This is at a restaurant on Key Largo called Alabama Jack's. They were out in the middle of nowhere and had been voted the best conch fritters in the Keys. They were good!

I was trying to capture how pretty the water is in the Keys.

We had a rough trip home complete with flight delays, Andrew falling and smacking his face on a metal window sill (bloody nose, people staring, screaming baby, etc.), dead car battery when we got to Des Moines, and getting home at 3 in the morning on Aaron's birthday.

Here is a picture where you can see the bruising on Andrew's face. I took him to the doctor and they didn't think he broke anything so we just have to keep an eye on it for now. He is eating a cupcake for Aaron's birthday.

We made german chocolate cupcakes & grilled chicken breasts for his birthday dinner. Andrew & Gabe got him a new video (Spiderman cartoons) and coloring book. I got him a new gun... some kind of hand gun... a .45 or .44 or something.

Then later that night about midnight Aaron got sick. REALLY sick. He drove himself to the ER at about 4 in the morning with horrible stomach pain. They admitted him for 24 hour observation and didn't really find anything wrong. He got out Monday morning and has been feeling good. His stomach is still a little funny feeling. We suspect he got some kind of food poisoning. Thankfully it wasn't anything too serious!

Little Walker

Andrew has been taking 2 steps or so for a few weeks... He is finally upgrading to a whole bunch of steps at a time!

Their special time together...

Aaron and Andrew sharing a snack as they share their special day at Mayo for their check-ups for their special blood.

Andrew was exhausted after a morning full of blood draws, urine samples, weigh, measure, blood pressure, and doctors!

We had good reports for both of these special boys...

Fun times outside

Gabe asked me "can we water the plants?" I told him we didn't have any plants to water and his reply was "well we could water the dandelions." So we did...

He thought it was so funny that he watered dog poop (above).

Andrew's first wagon ride. Chewing on his finger trying to get more teeth!

Jumping off McQueen

Andrew adores the dogs! Maci seemed to like him too!

Chillaxin'.

Love you brother!

3 pointers, ha!

After the rain...

A trip to the farm...

Andrew getting ready the night before. He wore his car jammies in honor of his road trip and was practicing driving a tractor.

Gabe & Laura having a laugh together!

Hmmm, who is cutest? It's kinda hard to decide although I am a bit partial to the one on the right.