We noticed a few extra hairs on Oliver’s shirt this week and generally his beautiful thick hair is slowly thinning out; it won’t be long before he loses all of his hair.  We realize, of all the side effects, this one is the most harmless and superficial, but we can’t help but feel sadness over this loss.  It serves as an outward expression of his illness – we know he is sick internally, and have noticed some changes in his appearance, but this one is a glaring indication of cancer.  The doctors tell us it is harder on the parents then the children, and we know that we are on the path to healing.  It just reminds us that as much as we try, Oliver’s childhood will not be “normal”.  There are things he is missing out on and he is starting to miss his friends and teachers at school.  We do not understand why or how this happened, but we have faith God will give us strength to get through this and one day we will look back on this experience and be thankful to have a healthy son.  On a lighter note, we had an ultrasound for baby girl this week and all of the organs were present and unofficially “normal”, there is still only one baby -no multiples, and she is still a girl – all very good reasons to thank God.  She seemed to anticipate the tech’s every move by turning away into an awkward position, but eventually the tech was able to take the necessary pictures.  If this is a precursor of things to came, she will either be 1) a feisty diva, 2) an acrobat or 3) photographically shy – my bet is on the later.  I will be sure to update the blog after our clinic visit on Friday, thank you all for your prayers and support.