Busy Times

It's been a busy month in the Conte household.

Dave and I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary on Sept. 4th. We got to spend a little time with Deeks and Dianne when they came to visit and stayed at Marriott Sawgrass. Charlie loved the pool time and the playground! Kate was content hanging out in the shade. We even ran into our good friends, the Davey family, out there. That same weekend, Aunt Jenny and cousin Jordan came to visit. Charlie was SO sad when Jordan had to leave...he hugged her tight and said "Jordan stay."

Shortly after Kate was diagnosed, we learned that my dad had kidney cancer. This past Tuesday, he had surgery to remove his affected kidney. He is now at home and recovering well. The surgeons said everything else looked good, so they are hopeful that he stays cancer-free.

Charlie started 2 year old preschool twice a week and finally had his first day with a"no tears" goodbye. He turned around, smiled and blew me a kiss....now, I wanted to cry!

Kate turned 4 months old and has continued to get good results from all of the specialists she is seeing. She is making great gains in Speech (feeding) therapy and can now take a bottle almost like a normal baby. She is working hard at physical therapy and her PT now comes to the house twice a week to work with her. Kate responds very well to her and her strength is improving. She actually lifted her head off of the floor by herself for the first time! Her little foot has decided it wants to continue to turn in (even after casting), but we are hopeful it will correct before she is ready to use it to move around. She is such a sweet little girl and LOVES to look at faces. She is growing and has reached the 25th percentile...hooray Kate!

October 1-5, Dave, Kate and I are attending the Myotonic Dystrophy Foundation Family Conference in Manhattan Beach, CA, so we can learn everything we can about this disease and how we can help our little Baby Kakes grow and prosper! Charlie has a date with several relatives while we are away so he can have some fun!

It's been quite the whirlwind since Kate's diagnosis in August and I know many of you are wondering how we are doing. The best way I can explain it is this: it's a grieving process. We have been through several stages of this process already and have basically come to the conclusion that no matter what, Kate is our baby girl and was born into our lives for a special reason. We will do whatever it takes to get her the best possible care and love her as much as we can. Learning that she got the disease from me has been quite unsettling, but even more concerning is knowing that there is a chance that Charlie might have it as well. This is a wait-and-see disease, so only time will tell. Having said all this, we still have our moments when we mourn and have a good cry, but overall, we are doing great. We are taking one day at a time and trying to live life as normally as possible. We love spending time with our family and friends!

First Day of 2 year old Preschool

Charlie was so excited about starting school that he didn't fall asleep until after 10pm last night. We packed his backpack and his lunchbox, set out his "first day of school" clothes and "school" shoes, and put together his little bag of gifts for his classroom (Lysol wipes and yummy "safety-pops"). He was chanting "school, school, school" on our short little drive to school and walked in all smiles while holding his daddy's hand! When daddy turned to leave though, poor Charlie wouldn't let go. After his sweet teacher pried him loose, we said our quick goodbyes and stood silently in the hallway (out of his sight) until we couldn't hear him crying anymore. No tears from mommy or daddy (we were trying to be tough), but daddy felt really bad!

Poor little Kate got toted along on this little outing, but was a good sport. I'm sure Charlie is having a splendid time, playing with his friends Caroline and Ethan and others he is meeting for the first time today. Only 40 minutes until I get to go pick him up...I can't wait! Hopefully Thursday will be an easier goodbye, as only mommy and Kate will be dropping him off at school...we'll see!

"Mac" Truck Boy

Oh, the love of a two year old boy...he is completely obsessed with "Mac" trucks. He plays with them at home, begs to buy them at stores, looks for them on the highway and complains when they don't have trailers attached to them. Daddy, of course, LOVES this stage of Charlie's and plays "trucks" with him all the time.

Well, thanks to my cousin Darin, from Alabama, Charlie got to ride in a real "Mac" truck (it was even red, like Mac in the Cars movie). Darin came to visit the past weekend and brought his truck with him. After a delicious lunch at Aunt Sue's house and a visit with all the Roy/Green relatives, Darin let Charlie ride in his big truck all the way to the truck stop, where he parked it. Charlie was a little nervous, and sat quietly the whole trip, but his eyes were big and full of excitement. Needless to say, it has been the topic of conversations with Charlie and he is already asking when he can ride in Darin's truck again! Thank you Darin for making my little boy's day!!!