Whirlwind Life

Just when things start to settle down, life gets in the way. The last time I wrote, I said we might have to go see Jalal's mom, Louella, in August. As we were planning that trip, Jalal spoke to one of his brothers about the situation. Turns out Louella isn't doing too well. The doctor took her off the chemo and put her into Hospice care. The cancer has spread all over, including to her breasts. So after 9 months of fighting this, she's now going to be staying at home and the Hospice nurses will try to make her as comfortable as possible until she's ready to move on. She is really out of it, from what I hear from my sister-in-law, "hallucinating" and talking to family members who have passed on. So after some very difficult emotions, we've planned a trip out to LA next week. That's right! We leave Monday night for Atlanta, fly to LA Tuesday morning, and stay until the following Monday. I think she's waiting to see Jalal, so it's good that we're going so soon. We just hope she holds on that long. But we don't want her to linger in pain. So this week is going to be crazy just trying to get everything done. Yesterday we made some progress, most notably getting haircuts for both of us and getting Jalal's car washed. Today, I have a huge to-do list, including turning in our lease renewal (yeah, we're sticking around), cleaning MAJORLY (we had an incident with spaghetti sauce on the rug last night), and packing for the trip. Plus, we've got story time at the library.
Yesterday was Quinn's 9-month check up. We both like the new doctor, so that was good. He got a good report. He does seem to be shrinking, though. Since he was about 6 weeks old, he has consistently been in the 10th percentile for weight. Between 4 and 6 months, his height jumped from the 50th to the 75th percentile. I kept waiting for his weight to jump up and start to catch up to his height, but the opposite happened! Now he is exactly 18 pounds (the SEVENTH percentile!) and 27 1/2 inches long (the 13th percentile). Jeez! How does my kid eat like a horse and still manage to be the smallest kid in the world? Okay, I'm exaggerating, I know. And the doctor says he is very healthy. He still doesn't have any teeth, so maybe that will make a difference? So of course I'm very sensitive about it, as I have always been. So I'm trying to give him as much food as he wants to eat now. And I think I might sneak in another small feeding in the mornings if he'll take it. The doctor also recommended a pediatric opthalmologist for Quinn to have a check up because of my experience with retinoblastoma. So that appointment is set for next month. I'm not worried about it really because we've paid attention to his eyes and haven't seen any indication that something is wrong. But I'm glad we're checking it out. Anyway, I need to get back to cleaning house. I put in a work order for the stove because one of the burners is not working right (and it's the only big one, the other three are small). So if they are going to come fix it, I better clean the kitchen.
P.S. Thank you to Lorraine, who wins the brownie cutting question from a couple of months ago. For those of you who don't remember, my brownies were ripping and looking messy when I cut them. The trick Lorraine offered is to cut them with a plastic knife. It works! Thanks!
Love, Us.