THE WINSTEADS: February 2010

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Trip to Arkansas

Well, Braden, TAYLOR and I loaded up the Altima and made the six hour drive to Little Rock to see Amanda and the kids. Luckily, Brad's parents had stayed with us the night before we left, so she rode to Jackson, TN with me to keep Braden happy. Brad put the DVD player in the car, so as long as he had Baby Praise, Cars, or Veggie Tales on...he was happy.

We had such a great time with the kids!! Braden and Lainey had a BALL chasing each other around. They fought over the miniature Graco stroller and mardi gras beads most of the time:) Taylor of course was in HEAVEN with his brother, Dutch. I wish so badly we lived closer to them:( We had a wonderful time though and Braden can't WAIT to see his cousins again soon! We love y'all!!!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Helping Mommy Cook

Braden thinks he's REALLY big stuff now that he's walking:) Here are a few pics of him helping mommy make petit fours...or wanting to PLAY with mommy while SHE made petit fours. He think it's hilarious to look at himself in the reflection of the oven. He could seriously sit there for hours. Ha!!! I cherish these days so much. He's just so sweet.
By the way...I had him in his diaper because he destroyed his third outfit of the day and I had someone coming to pick up petit fours and just didn't have time to change him:)

As most of you probably know by now, Brad was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma two weeks ago. It came as an incredible shock to us and our families. We went to a Sunday school party Sunday night and Brad played kickball with all of the guys. He was sore the next day and took some Ibuprofen on an empty stomach. Tuesday, he started passing blood in his urine and went to the walk in clinic. They immediately sent him to the ER where he found out five hours later that he had a golf ball size tumor in his left kidney. We met with the urologist the next day and he scheduled the surgery for the following Thursday. Dr. Locke was able to remove the entire tumor. He only had to remove 1/4 of his kidney. He will not have to do chemo OR radiation and for that...we are so thankful. We are finally back home and Brad is recovering well. Our lives have been completely turned upside down the past two weeks, but we both have new outlooks on life. We are so grateful that God has blessed us with our beautiful baby boy who just turned 10 weeks old this week. We have learned that life is a true and absolute GIFT and we will appreciate every single day we have with one another. I love Brad more than I ever have before. I've been scared, mad, anxious, and happy all at once. I am so thankful we caught the cancer at such an early stage. We have a lot of life left to live and so many more memories to make. Braden and I love you Brad...