We’re still here….

Kyllan Leave a comment

The Cody family has been staying busy as usual, so we apologize we have not been keeping up with the blog.  We have slowed down a little on Elliottblog too.  William has been begging me to post, but honestly, at the end of the day after a full day of work and kids, I am burnt out and just want to relax.

So on to the update…

The most important and exciting thing is that everyone is doing great!  We had a busy few months with William’s birthday in April, my birthday, Elliott’s 3rd birthday, Laurel’s pre-K graduation and first ballet recital in May.  That is on top of our busy work schedules, Elliott’s chemo treatments, and all our other activities.  Elliott is still responding well to treatment and kicking Leukemia’s butt and Laurel is full of energy and joy as usual.  William has been losing weight and getting fit and trim and I am almost a year out from brain surgery, seizure free, and on the road to no seizure medication.  Good news all around the Cody house.

Instead of making this a long post, I figured I would just post photos.  Additional photos can be found on William’s Flickr page.

Fossil Rim

We visited Fossil Rim Wildlife Center in Glenrose, TX during Elliott’s birthday weekend.  Such a cool place.  The animals come right up to your car and you can feed the animals from your car window.  The kids really enjoyed it.

Fossil Rim

Elliott chose some cool binoculars at Fossil Rim to get a close-up of the animals.

Fossil Rim

Laurel initially didn’t even want her window down, but she eventually enjoyed feeding the animals and getting a close-up look.

Elliott's Birthday

Happy 3rd Birthday Elliott!  He loves cake and cupcakes.

Dress Rehersal

Rehearsal for ballet recital

Dress Rehersal

Perfecting the moves in rehearsal.

Ballet Recital

The dancer with her gifts after the recital

Laurel's Pre-K Graduation

Pre-K Graduate!

Laurel's Pre-K Graduation

Proud family!

 

 

 

Laurel is 4 years old!

Kyllan 1 Comment

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Wow.  This past year has gone by so fast.  After getting news of Elliott’s cancer diagnosis on Laurel’s 3rd birthday, we were immediately consumed with treatment, clinic visits, medications, hospitalizations, juggling schedules, sleeping on air mattresses, stress eating, and the list goes on.  I had no idea we wouldn’t blog for a whole year (except with updates on Elliottblog, but that really became our life).  This year, we are so excited that we are healthy and ready for a fun birthday weekend for Laurel.  She has been asking if it is her birthday since July 2nd, and the day is finally here.

So what is Laurel like at 4?  Absolutely, positively, full of energy and life.  She loves everything girly… jewelry, dress up, lip gloss, nail polish, shoes, dancing, dolls, hair, she loves it all.  She has a very vivid imagination and knows how to have a good time.  She loves to play with her friends and she is friends with EVERYONE.  She will make a random friend at the science museum (true story).  This summer, she has been in school, but she has also been taking swim lessons with her same classmates from last summer and also began taking ballet lessons.  She seems to really enjoy ballet, so we will see how long it lasts.  She took ice skating lessons this past winter, but she wasn’t super excited about it, so we stopped once her 6 week session was over.  I think she will stick with ballet and dance longer, but we’ll see.  She won’t have a recital until next May, but she should have more solid technique by then, so I will be super excited to see her and capture that moment.  I think she would say her favorite meal is chicken, french fries and lemonade and her favorite movie is probably Sleeping Beauty.  I am not sure why she likes that one so much, especially compared to the newer Disney movies, but it certainly is the most requested.  Her favorite things to play with are probably her princess dresses or her Barbie dolls.  If she is playing with Elliott, LEGO blocks would probably be the chosen activity.  We also have membership to the Dallas Zoo and Perot Museum of Nature and Science this year and she has very much enjoyed going to both places now that Elliott can get out and about as well.  Overall, she is a happy girl and knows how to have a good time.  I hope she always stays that way.  We need more happy people in the world.

We will post more photos after the party, but here are some from her impromptu party at home since today (Friday) was her actual Birthday.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY LAUREL!!  WE LOVE YOU!

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Disney

William 1 Comment

The family took an impromptu trip to Disney World over Memorial Day weekend while we were in Jacksonville visiting my parents. In retrospect, taking a toddler and infant to Disney World on what may be their busiest day of the year may not have been the best timing. On top of that, it was also “Rock your Disney Side” day, one of the rare events where the Magic Kingdom is open 24-hours and people can wear costumes into the park, making it a even more popular weekend than usual.

Given all of that, we still had a great time! We stayed at Disney’s Art of Animation Studios, which worked great for us. We had a Finding Nemo themed family suite, which gave us plenty of room and Laurel absolutely loved! The entire place featured art and imagery from Finding Nemo, the Lion King, Cars, and the Little Mermaid. If I had to guess, I would say Ariel better watch out. I think Anna and Elsa may be coming for her wing at the resort during the next renovation. Speaking of Anna and Elsa, we didn’t get to meet them at the park. Even when we woke up early and went straight there, the line was 420 minutes long. It was the only attraction that ran out of fast-passes ahead of time. Turns out Laurel was happy enough seeing the characters in the parades. We did, however, wait in line to see Tinkerbell, but that didn’t turn out like we expected. If you didn’t already know, Laurel is a huge Tinkerbell fan. She has seen all the movies… at least 20 times each. She would not stop talking about how excited she was and what she was going to talk to Tinkerbell about the entire time we were in line. As soon as she went up to meet her she claimed up. After an hour in line, she made a duck face in every photo. EVERY PHOTO!

I think Kyllan’s favorite part of the trip was watching all of the parades. Laurel’s was definitely Finding Nemo the Musical, especially after staying in a Nemo room. Kyllan and I were both shocked by how much Elliott enjoyed Its a Small World. In fact, he still perks up whenever he hears the music. My favorite was Kilimanjaro Safari in the Animal Kingdom.  I think our time at the Animal Kingdom really made the trip. The crowds, the heat, and the waits at the Magic Kingdom were  just too much for the kids to bare and the Safari and Finding Nemo the Musical were the two best attractions in the entire park.   We have tons of pictures from the trip. Here are a few below.

 

The Castle
Tinkerbell
Elliott Having Fun!
Sleeping with Nemo!
A Few Tears Along the Way

 

Summer Post

William Leave a comment

This summer has proven to be a hectic one in the Cody house. Kyllan has started a new job, my research lab at the university is keeping me busy, Laurel now has her own social calender and Elliott has been fighting a nasty bug. However, it has not been all work and no play. We have still managed to have quite a bit of fun! I have been uploading pictures to Flickr, but have not managed to sit down and post about our adventures.

At the end of may my father received a humanitarian award from OneJax, an interfaith organization that promotes diversity. Kyllan and I were able to make it down to Jacksonville for the awards ceremony. Find the pictures here.

From the OneJax website:

This award recognizes individuals for their outstanding dedication and community service. William Cody, MD is one of four recipients of the 2014 Silver Award. Prior to joining St. Vincent’s Medical Center in 1991, Dr. Code practiced in the U.S. Naval Hospital. He spent countless hours teaching young physicians in the Family Practice Residency to care for and treat women. Dr. Cody personally delivered hundreds of babies and also supervised hospital residents. Much of the time and service he gave was uncompensated. Dr. Cody is currently the medical staff president-elect for St. Vincent’s, Riverside. He is an active member of the Deerwood Rotary Club and has enlisted the aid of his club in sponsoring nurses’ travel on the Haitian missions.

 

Humanitarian Award

While in Florida Kyllan and I made an impromptu trip to Disney World with the Kids. It was an interesting trip, to say the least. I’ll make another post about the trip later this week.

Magic Kingdom

The month may also means Graduations, especially in the Cody house where there is a graduation every year. Here is a link to pictures from my university’s graduation and from my cousin’s graduation.

 

Graduation Day
Cousin’s Graduation

 

Elliott’s 1st Birthday

William Leave a comment

Yes, Elliott’s birthday was almost a month ago. I know. We’re trying, but we are exhausted.

For Elliott’s actually birthday we took the kids to the Fort Worth Zoo. (We went to the Dallas Zoo for Laurel’s 2nd birthday.) We had a great time and took loads of pictures. Laurel loved seeing all of the animals and I pretty sure she thought the trip was for her. Elliott simply enjoyed being outside and seeing new things. Kyllan and I were happy to have two well behaved kids! When we returned from the zoo Elliott opened his presents and we had birthday cupcakes. It’s been rough on her. My mom’s birthday, my dad’s birthday, my birthday, Kyllan’s birthday and then Elliott’s birth just come one after the other and she cannot figure why hers isn’t here yet.

You can find all the photos from the day here.

 

Birthday Boy!

 

Opening Presents!

 

The Cody Family

 

The Cody Girls

Elliott’s 1st Birthday Party

William Leave a comment

Here are some photos from Elliott’s 1st birthday party. We had a few friends in the neighborhood over for the party. It was our first real attempt at entertaining in the house and it was really nice to share the occasion. The theme was robots, a take on his bedroom theme of robots and rockets. (I think for birthday #2 we will do a rocket theme.) No injuries this year! Pictures can be found here.

 

Birthday Boy

 

Birthday Cake

 

Birthday Fun

 

Photos from Kyllan’s Birthday

William Leave a comment

With all of the preparations for Elliott’s 1st birthday, I never got around to posting photos from Kyllan’s. Laurel and Elliott helped Kyllan celebrate with cupcakes from Sprinkles. Later I took Kyllan to dinner at one of favorite restaurants, which felt like our first real night out in almost 3 years. I don’t think we have had as much fun talking in a restaurant since I took her to Olive Garden for our first date in Horse Heads, Ny almost 12 years ago. I plan to upload the photos from Elliott’s party and birthday soon. There are so many that I don’t know where to start!

Dance Party!
Looking for Gifts!
Cupcakes!

 

The BIG ONE!!

Kyllan Leave a comment

Dear Elliott,

You are one year old today!  As usual, the time has flown by and you are growing by the minute.  On Saturday, you had your first birthday party!  It was a lot of fun and you got to celebrate with neighbors, family and friends.  We choose a robot theme, similar to the theme in your room of spaceships and robots.  Daddy is already planning a spaceship theme for next year.  Today, to celebrate your birthday, we are going to take a family trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo.  This will be your second zoo experience since we went to the Dallas Zoo for Laurel’s birthday last year.  You were only 2 months old though, so it was not as exciting for you.  At one year old, here are some things you enjoy

  • Making “music” by banging things together- instruments, pots, toys, water bottles, whatever
  • Chasing after Laurel or “getting into trouble” with her.  You find her hilarious and laugh so much when she does silly things
  • Scooting all around on your bottom.  You have decided this is easier than walking for the time being, although you continue to pull up more and more each day
  • Being outside.  The fresh air always seems to calm you down, so you enjoy stroller rides, sitting on the rocking chairs, or just hanging around outside.
  • Grabbing for remotes, cell phones, or gadgets of any type and then getting really upset when someone takes it away
  • Throwing toys or dumping things out
  • Eating Mum Mums and trying new food
  • Waking up in the middle of the night!  I am hoping this will stop soon.  I think the sleep training will start next week so we can get you on a better routine

Well, I need to get some rest so I can have some energy to help you celebrate tomorrow.

Love you always! 🙂

Mommy

ElliottBigOne

Elliott1-2

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